Neville: Top-four finish tough for Valencia

Gary Neville believes it will be tough for Valencia to claim a top-four finish in La Liga after a 1-0 loss to Villarreal on Thursday. 

The club brought in Neville in early December after parting ways with Nuno Espirito Santo, who guided them to fourth place last season. 

Valencia have not won in the league in almost two months and have dropped to 10th in the table.

The loss to Villarreal means they are 11 points outside of the top four, and Neville thinks the gap may be insurmountable.

“It is a large distance to make up and I am concentrating on the next game,” the 40-year-old Valencia coach said.

“The defeat makes it a lot more difficult but there are still points to be played for.

“I am desperately looking to pick up points but I am also looking for a good performance. There were good signs against Olympique Lyonnais and Eibar but today we saw something different as we had a good 45 minutes.

“This makes me feel better as we knew how to play in the second half and if we continue that way then it is possible to pick up the points we need. In the second half we played the best football since I arrived.”

It does not get any easier for Neville and Valencia, having to face Real Madrid on Sunday.