Premier League predictions: Athletic subscribers joint-top with six-year-old heading into final day

AFC BournemouthArsenalAston VillaBrentfordBrighton & Hove AlbionBurnleyChelseaCrystal PalaceEvertonFulhamLeeds UnitedLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedNottingham ForestSunderlandTottenham HotspurWest Ham UnitedWolverhampton WanderersScores & ScheduleStandingsFantasyThe Athletic FC NewsletterPodcastsPremier League predictions: Athletic subscribers joint-top with six-year-old heading into final day Photos: Getty Images; design: Demetrius Robinson Share articleWelcome to The Athletic’s Premier League predictions challenge, where the real title race could not be tighter ahead of the final day. Each week since the season began in August, four of us — a guest subscriber on rotation, a six-year-old, an algorithm and me — have been predicting the Premier League results with varying degrees of success. And when I signed up to do this, I was rather hoping that by this stage I would be preparing my victory speech, thanking the subscribers and six-year-old Wilfred for taking part and declaring that, at least when it comes to predicting football matches, humans know better than computers. Well, the last part appears to be true. But some humans appear to know better than others. And sadly for me — I don’t want to say “embarrassingly”, but we’re all thinking it — I find myself languishing in third place while Wilfred and the subscribers thrash it out for the title. When I said the title race couldn’t be tighter, I wasn’t joking. Going into the final round of fixtures, Wilfred and subscribers are locked on 253 points — with Wilfred in first place on the basis of having predicted more correct scorelines. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("[id='datawrapper-chart-IM3ME']");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r We’re awarding three points for a correct scoreline and one point for a correct result. We’re also awarding a bonus point for any “unique” correct prediction of a result, so last weekend, for example, the algorithm picked up four points for a 1-1 draw between Wolves and Fulham. Wilfred’s two bonus points last weekend — after predicting draws between Brentford and Crystal Palace on Saturday and Bournemouth and Manchester City on Tuesday — have taken him level with the subscribers. My faint hopes of forcing my way into a three-way showdown on the final day were raised by a bonus point for Aston Villa’s victory over Liverpool but then dashed by Sunday’s games. I got Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham spot-on on Tuesday, but the algorithm denied me a bonus point. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("[id='datawrapper-chart-4RiBK']");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r In fact, the algorithm finally seems to have caught up with season-long trends in results and is now threatening to catch up with me. It has top-scored in each of the last two weeks, with 30 points to my 14, Wilfred’s 11 and the subscribers’ nine. Maybe it’s that time of the season: nerves afflicting the human players, particularly the title challengers, while the algorithm coldly updates, immune to whims and subjectivity. So, as we head into the final day, will our guest subscriber, roared on by a vast community of readers, finish the job? Or are most of you, as the comments section suggests, rooting for Wilfred by this stage? It falls to Neel, a 35-year-old Arsenal supporter from New Delhi, to try to finish the job for the subscribers. And that works quite nicely, given that it’s Crystal Palace vs Arsenal on Sunday — and that Wilfred is a Palace fan, albeit one sufficiently cynical, at the age of six, to have successfully predicted a 3-0 defeat for his team a couple of weeks ago. Good luck Neel and good luck Wilfred. May the best predictor win. And allow me to ease your nerves by reassuring you that, if the worst happens and you both choke on the final day, you can confidently rely on me to do likewise. Victory over Manchester United would give Brighton the chance of beating Bournemouth to sixth place and Europa League qualification (and possibly even the Champions League, depending on results elsewhere). Anything less would bring the risk of missing out on Europe altogether. It’s hard to know whether that points to a win for Brighton (high stakes) or for Manchester United (third place secured, pressure off). I’ll go with the former. I like the fact that the “battle for 19th”, between two teams who looked doomed from an early stage, comes down to them playing each other on the final day. They have only won seven games between them, but I really believe that says less about them and more about the strength of the rest of the league. They are far stronger than the whipping boys of the past — even the very recent past. Look at the goal difference: Burnley -37, Wolves -41. Two seasons ago, Sheffield United went down with a goal difference of -69. That is partly down to a league-wide decline in creative/attacking output across the board, but also down to the fact that even the poorest sides are strong enough to make life difficult. It’s not one or the other. It’s both. Having been impressed by Burnley’s resilience at Arsenal on Monday night, I’ll go for them to end the season with a win. Anything could happen here. Arsenal’s players might still be on a comedown from Tuesday’s title-winning celebrations and Palace, understandably, have been entirely focused on next Wednesday’s Conference League final. It will certainly be a lot less tense than might have been imagined a week ago. It just depends whether Arsenal’s players want to stretch their legs and enjoy themselves ahead of their Champions League final next Saturday or whether they would prefer to take it easy. But even if Mikel Arteta wants to rest his big-hitters, their squad players are good enough to make an impact and perhaps stake a claim. This time last week I would have put this down as a home win. But Fulham’s season — and Marco Silva’s tenure — seems to have fizzled out, just as Newcastle have belatedly found some momentum with Eddie Howe finally able to field something close to his strongest XI. So, yes, I’ll go for a Newcastle win. Brentford’s hopes of European qualification have receded somewhat, but they still have a decent chance, especially with Sunday’s opponents in a state of turmoil. Liverpool’s supporters will hope for an atmosphere of celebration, the warmest of send-offs for Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and perhaps one or two others whose futures remain uncertain, but the mood around Anfield is so tense right now — and Brentford are so stubborn — that it could be a difficult occasion. I wrote about Pep Guardiola’s legacy in English football here. If you want to read an article saying he has single-handedly sucked the creativity out of the Premier League (Article A, B and C: Jack Grealish), it might not be for you. Guardiola is not getting the ending he would have wished for, with Arsenal already confirmed as champions, but I feel his final game in charge of Manchester City — and a farewell game for John Stones and Bernardo Silva — will bring a goal rush. And yes, that is partly because I feel Aston Villa’s players might give a different meaning to the phrase “Europa League hangover” after their richly deserved triumph in Istanbul on Wednesday. Manchester City 4-0 Aston Villa This is huge for Bournemouth, for whom a point will secure European qualification for the first time in their history. If they beat Forest, they could potentially even end up in the Champions League, depending on Liverpool’s and Aston Villa’s results. Their performance against Manchester City on Tuesday night was a perfect encapsulation of their progress under Andoni Iraola and, after 17 Premier League games unbeaten, they strike me as a team who will get the point they need on Sunday — maybe even all three. Nottingham Forest 1-1 Bournemouth Sunderland and their supporters will be desperate to qualify for Europe next season. But are Chelsea? As Simon Johnston wrote here, this is not a rhetorical question. Might the relatively small financial benefits of a season in the Europa League — or worse, the Conference League — be outweighed by the reduced demands on the squad and the prospect of their incoming coach Xabi Alonso having more time on the training ground? Chelsea’s players have hardly bust a gut all season, so are they really going to start on Sunday? I’m not convinced. Sunderland to end an excellent season on another high. Just like the Tottenham supporters mentioned above, the West Ham fans in my life are resigned to their fate. Maybe it’s human nature to prepare yourself for the worst. Or maybe it’s decades of misery — some of them having lived through five relegations — that does that to people. Either way, I can see their team battling and getting the win they need on Sunday. But I fear it will not be enough. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("[id='datawrapper-chart-rjhE2']");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms