Rio Ferdinand has predicted Liverpool to finish third in the Premier League this season but Robbie Savage believes they will miss out on Champions League qualification.
Jurgen Klopp all-but admitted defeat in the race to win the Premier League title last weekend after losing 4-1 to Manchester City.
The result puts Liverpool fourth in the Premier League, one point clear of Chelsea in fifth and 10 points behind league leaders Manchester City.
As a result, the media focus around Liverpool has now refocused on their chances of finishing in the top four.
Given the club's injury luck this season, Ferdinand believes that a full-strength Liverpool squad would be challenging with Manchester City for the title and therefore they will finish third, whilst Savage believes the absence of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez will prove too big.
“Liverpool are in a bad vein of form at the moment. Last season, if we were sitting here for this game, both of us would 100 per cent say Liverpool would win this (Leicester) game," Ferdinand told BT Sport.
"That’s why I’ve got them in the position they are (third), they’re lacking consistency, they’re lacking confidence, lacking form, so I don’t see them mounting a challenge this season.
“We were talking about this before, full tilt, full squad - they’re challenging City to win the league, no doubt. But I don’t think anyone else would be in their position with the amount of stuff that’s destabilised their season and that’s a credit to them. I still see them third and if anyone else goes through what they’ve gone through, they’re finishing eighth or tenth.”
Savage explained: “I’ve gone fifth. If they had every player fit, they’d finish top four, no problem, and possibly give Man City a run because I think City will win the title.
"But this is their 16th centre-back pairing of the season so far, that’s a huge blow. When the full-backs are in one-on-one situations; Alexander-Arnold and Robertson - two of the best full-backs in the world - but in one-on-one situations, what I noticed last weekend against Man City, they struggle defending.
" Is that because they look to go forward? Is that because of no Gomez or Van Dijk? People talk about the absence of Van Dijk, which is huge, but for me, the two centre-backs being out - the next six games when Gomez was in the side after Van Dijk got injured - they’d only conceded three Premier League goals.
"When Gomez got injured as well, it disrupted the whole team. The whole team is unbalanced, but I will say that Liverpool to be challenging still with the injuries they’ve had is a credit to Jurgen Klopp.”
