Online Reporter
A SUPERCOMPUTER has predicted Arsenal to finally clinch the Premier League title over Manchester City.
It seems this might be Mikel Arteta‘s year after finishing within touching distance in the past two straight seasons.
Their disappointing draw away at Sunderland at the weekend was not enough to dissuade AceOdds.com‘s supercomputer from believing that they will finish seven points above runners-up City.
Pep Guardiola‘s side’s 3-0 hammering of Liverpool at the weekend was enough to propel them to second in the predicted table after a rough start to the season.
That loss made it five defeats in the Reds’ last 6 Premier League games, but that has not stopped them from being tipped to finish inside the top three, just eight points off the title.
Current third-place Chelsea drop to fourth despite their comfortable win over floundering Wolves on Saturday.
Ruben Amorim‘s Manchester United are backed to continue their recent upturn in form to just miss out on Champions League qualification in fifth. Also sneaking into the top six is arguably the boldest prediction from the model, which uses data from this and last season, as well as fixture difficulty and even squad valuations to form a predictive table. That computer has produced Crystal Palace as its pick to round out the top six and secure Europa League football, after their harsh snubbing due to financial regulations earlier this year.
Tottenham are set to join Bournemouth and Newcastle with identical records in eighth, ninth and tenth, separated only by goal difference.
Spurs were denied a win against United on Saturday through a late Matthijs De Ligt equaliser, while Newcastle continue their recent run of poor results after they fell to a 3-1 loss at Brentford.
Sunderland fans will be disappointed to see their side predicted to slip to 15th after their stellar start to the season.
The newly-promoted outfit have lost just twice this season, and scored a last-gasp equaliser at the weekend to share the points with Arsenal, pushing them up to fourth in the table.
But they have still been given just a 10 per cent chance of finishing in the top half, and just 0.1 per cent odds of maintaining their place in the top four.
New managers Sean Dyche and Nuno Espirito Santo have both been backed to keep their sides up this season after convincing wins over relegation rivals at the weekend.
Dyche’s Forest defeated Leeds 3-1 at the City Ground, while a late consolation goal for Burnley was only enough to make it a 3-2 defeat on their trip to Nuno’s West Ham.
Those results seemed to coincide with the losers being consigned to relegation, with Leeds set to miss out on safety by two points.
Nobody is surprised to see currently-managerless Wolves tipped to finish dead last, but fans can take some comfort in the fact that the computer reckons they will win some games at some point.
The crisis club is trying to prise Middlesbrough boss Rob Edwards away from the Championship to try and right the ship at Molineux, having sacked Vitor Pereira earlier this month.
Though any change for the better is not enough to lift them from the bottom of the table, the computer has them finishing with almost 15 times their current points total, including seven wins from their current zero. – Sun
