Every year, for the past few seasons, we’ve done a Premier League prediction table where I and you, the readers, make our picks on how the final Premier League table will look at the end of the season. The picks are made in August, so it’s often a tough call to make especially since new transfer signings haven’t had much time to bed in at all. Plus, managerial changes don’t often happen until late in the year.
Nevertheless, here’s how we did. My predicted end of the season table was as follows:
- Manchester United (C)
- Manchester City
- Chelsea
- Liverpool
- Arsenal
- Sunderland
- Tottenham Hotspur
- Fulham
- Everton
- Newcastle United
- Aston Villa
- Stoke City
- West Bromwich Albion
- Swansea
- Norwich City
- Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Bolton Wanderers
- Wigan Athletic (R)
- Queens Park Rangers (R)
- Blackburn Rovers (R)
And here were your picks.
I came close to predicting the champions correctly — if Aguero hadn’t scored, I would have had my first and second pick correctly. Chelsea finishing in sixth instead of third place was a shock, but who could have predicted that Andre Villas-Boas would have done so badly at Stamford Bridge? Liverpool’s eighth place finish was a shock. I really thought that Dalglish could have steered them to fourth based on the talent at their disposal. Arsenal took advantage of Chelsea and Liverpool’s poor league form by finishing in third, despite me picking them to finish in fifth position.
I thought Sunderland was going to be the surprise team this season based on the amount of money that Ellis Short spent in the transfer window, but who could have predicted that Steve Bruce could have done so badly at the Stadium of Light? I should have swapped Sunderland and Newcastle around for a better prediction.
At the bottom of the table, most of us could see the writing on the wall that Blackburn Rovers was doomed under Steve Kean, so I predicted they would finish in last place. Under Neil Warnock, I didn’t rate QPR, and based on the way they were playing, they would have gone down if it wasn’t for Mark Hughes. I also predicted Wigan would get relegated, but I was wrong on that one.
I believed in Swansea and Norwich, so I put them at 14th and 15th position — yet they did even better than my predictions by finishing 11th and 12th. I’m particularly proud of my Swansea prediction because almost everyone — pundits and fans — predicted that Swansea would get relegated.
Here’s the final Premier League table to compare.
As for the picks from you, the readers, many of you predicted that Newcastle would get relegated, Liverpool would finish in first, second or third place, and Swansea would finish bottom. Manchester United, like me, was the most predicted champion.
Of the readers who made their prediction between August and September, the person who came the closest was a reader named Bob.
Interestingly, very few people picked Manchester City to win the title before the end of August, and we all (myself included) were all over the place regarding the bottom three. No one who posted a comment in August or September predicted the correct three relegated sides.
If you have some time to go back through the 156+ comments, they make for some very interesting reading.
I hope you enjoyed the Premier League table prediction game. We’ll open a new one up for the 2012-13 season in early August.
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11 Comments
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BA14
May 23, 2012 at 9:23 pm
My predictions were crap but I did cash (8-1) in on Robbie Van Persie being the leading goal scorer in the League.
dust
May 23, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Nice article. so funny how many people had spurs out of the top 6. Perhaps with this article with the link for them to access their predictions from last year people may be more objective.
Next season top 4
Man city
Spurs
Man Utd
Newcastle
Andrei
May 23, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Since we are in a fantasy land:
1. Spurs
2. Newcastle
3. Liverpool
…
18. Arsenal
19. Manchester United
20. Manchester City
Andrei
May 23, 2012 at 1:17 pm
…
10. Chelsea
…
dust
May 23, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Not quite as crazy as those facebook accountants you used in your financial post the other day lol
Here are 2 reasons why we will improve on our 4th place from this year.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/hooray-for-harry-loic-remy-will-still-844130
can’t wait to see what happens next season, you can have modric if you want $50 million cash, chelsea will still finish around 6th or 7th. Will the 50 million eat into the funds you need to for busses to park in front of tech next season as you revolutionize football with Di Matteo lol
Andyb
May 23, 2012 at 10:26 am
I said Swansea, Wigan & NEWCASTLE to go down, but to be fair a lot of people said Newcastle. 3/3 wrong LOL. (I am happy Swansea stayed up being Welsh)
& I also said City to win the title, which they did.
Andyb
May 23, 2012 at 10:29 am
I also said I’d slit my wrists if Stoke finish 7th. My wrists are thankfully safe.
Alex
May 23, 2012 at 9:13 am
http://epltalk.com/2011-12-premier-league-table-predictions-33634#comment-102830
That comment is particularly pleasing for two reasons:
1) “Champions league = suprise winners (Chelsea)”
and, my favorite
2) “I’m a villa fan and i was wondering why some of you think we’re going to finnish in the bottom half (sensible answers please)”
Mufc77
May 23, 2012 at 9:12 am
I think I had utd winning it with either city or Chelsea 2nd and 3rd depending on what happened with Tevez and how quickly Aguero settled.
I had spurs down for fading away at the end and Liverpool not even in contention which was a understatement. The domestic cups I think had city and Liverpool.
Christian
May 23, 2012 at 8:58 am
I had predicted Liverpool to win the league this season. I’m so glad to be so wrong.
steven
May 23, 2012 at 8:36 am
I predicted Man City to win the title, with Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool filling in the 2-6 spots.
My Relegation places were Wigan, QPR, and Wolves.
Perhaps my biggest mis-judgement was that I had Newcastle in 17th and just a point above relegation. I expected with the early season player losses and my thought that the dressing room would be in disarray that they would struggle. Clearly they did not.