Premier League Predictions Comparison
June 1, 2011 Leave a Comment
At the beginning of the 2010/11 Premier League season, I offered up my prediction for the final league table. It read thus:
1. Chelsea
2. Manchester City
3. Manchester United
4. Arsenal
5. Liverpool
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Everton
8. Aston Villa
9. Bolton Wanderers
10. Fulham
11. Birmingham City
12. West Ham United
13. Stoke City
14. Wolverhampton Wanderers
15. Newcastle United
16. Sunderland
17. Blackburn Rovers
18. Wigan Athletic
19. West Bromwich Albion
20. Blackpool
Here’s the actual table in comparison, with the places I predicted them to finish next to their name:
1. Manchester United (3rd)
2. Chelsea (1st)
3. Manchester City (2nd)
4. Arsenal (4th)
5. Tottenham Hotspur (6th)
6. Liverpool (5th)
7. Everton (7th)
8. Fulham (10th)
9. Aston Villa (8th)
10. Sunderland (16th)
11. West Bromwich Albion (19th)
12. Newcastle United (15th)
13. Stoke City (13th)
14. Bolton Wanderers (9th)
15. Blackburn Rovers (17th)
16. Wigan Athletic (18th)
17. Wolverhampton Wanderers (14th)
18. Birmingham City (11th)
19. Blackpool (20th)
20. West Ham United (12th)
So, as you can see, I didn’t do particularly well, although I was close for a lot of teams. I got Stoke, Arsenal, and Everton spot on, but I got the rest of the top 6 wrong in the wrong positions (predicting which teams would make up the top 6 doesn’t warrant a mention as it’ll be the same 6 teams next year, and probably the year after that too).
In terms of the relegation battle, I only got Blackpool right, and even they finished a place higher than I expected. I predicted that Birmingham and West Ham would get on far better than they did, with Birmingham’s terrible form since the Carling Cup victory costing them dearly in the end.
Other big mistakes include Bolton, who finished five places lower than I predicted, although if they had managed to maintain their early season form I might have been spot on. West Brom and Sunderland both finished far higher than I anticipated; West Brom thanks to the exploits of Roy Hodgson after looking dead and buried under Roberto Di Matteo, whilst Sunderland held on for a top ten finish despite their total collapse in form after January.
