Premier League: Arsenal one the few high points in season predictions
Arsenal's Martin Odegaard lifts the Premier League trophy after the Premier League match at Selhurst Park, London. Picture: John Walton/PA Wire
So, another Premier League season comes to an end and all that’s left is to look back to August and take a hearty laugh at my predictions at how the final table would look come this week.
First of all, and most importantly of all, let’s cover the positive part of my predictions and that is that I successfully foretold that Arsenal would win the title.
Contrary to the beliefs of most pundits, that presumed the defending champions Liverpool would be certain to retain their crown after adding nearly half a billion pounds worth of talent in the off season, I had my doubts. These were raised firstly, by Liverpool’s poor performances in their title run-in, and secondly the unpredictability of blending in so many new players, leaving me wonder could they raise their game to title-winning levels straight away.
Instead, I considered the one side that showed the most consistency and steady result gatherer over the past three years would be in the prime place to take advantage of any Liverpool slip.
And that’s where the best of it ended for me. In a season where most of the top six struggled to live up to lofty expectations and the traditional mid-table teams continued to perform beyond expectations, this was a chaotic, compressed season. The table resembled a concertina, with sides separated by just a handful of points. Incredibly, only 12 points separated Spurs in 17th from Brighton in eighth, who snagged European qualification.
Down in the relegation zone, the only side I predicted correctly to go down was Burnley, which was not surprising when they did little by way of trying to stay up either by tactics or new talent. My other two sides to face the drop could not have been more wrong, even if I had tried to get it wrong.
I foretold that Sunderland would come dead last and go straight back down along with Burnley. A list of untried new signings made me think it would be too much for Sunderland to assimilate into the top flight. What developed was a side that made life difficult for every other side in the league and Makems even diced with a place in the top three for a spell earlier in the season and silenced many big-name clubs along the way, including the eventual champions. As it panned out, they finished a massively creditable seventh position and a place in the Europa League. Imagine that.
Taking over after the departure of the club’s iconic manager Thomas Frank and the loss of Bryan Mbeumo to Man United, it seemed that The Bees would struggle. But to the great credit of Andrews and of course with the help of his Irish players Nathan Collins and Cork’s Caoimhin Kelleher, they not only survived but thrived in the league and only missed out on a European qualification on goal difference on the last day.
As it panned out, Wolves and West Ham were the sides that joined Burnley in the drop. I had predicted that they'd finish 16th and 15th respectively. I did get it right that Leeds, (a favourite for the drop among most pundits) would survive and so they did in a fairly credible 14th place. I thought the Premier League experience of manager Daniel Farke would stand to the Yorkshire side and so it did.
Back up top, I did not think Liverpool would retain the title but did think they be in contention for some bit of the season. That, in reality, died after just six weeks of the start. No one could have seen the lack of quality and drive the champions showed this term.
Man City, in my predictions, were the third-place side. Liverpool’s poor form I could say allowed City into second but also, to be fair, Pep Guardiola and a couple of hundred million pounds in the Christmas sales probably had its part to play in them pushing Arsenal all the way to the last week and the runner-up spot.
Apart from the Brentford and Sunderland, great credit must go to Bournemouth and Brighton for picking up the remaining European spots and it will be interesting to see how they handle the Thursday football and league duties next season. If they do as well as Aston Villa and Crystal Palace did this season they will not be complaining. Even though it can be argued that it did cost Villa and Palace domestically.
Man United will be happy with their return to the top three but the lack of European and even domestic competition may be giving their recovery a bit of a rose-tinted hue. The recovery after Ruben Amorim’s departure was of great credit to interim boss Michael Carrick and it secured his full-time job for next season. But it will be interesting to see how well they will fare when juggling Champions League and domestic responsibilities again, when we return next season.
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