Premier League predictions - how accurate were BBC Sport pundits?

Premier League predictions - how accurate were BBC Sport pundits?ByChris BevanBBC Sport journalistPublished25 May 2026706 CommentsLast summer, 33 BBC TV and radio pundits made their predictions for the Premier League season, picking their champions and their top four.Sounds easy? Far from it. Twenty-one of them thought Liverpool would win it, and none of them got more than two clubs right.Although six pundits correctly picked Arsenal as champions, and everyone had the Gunners and Manchester City in their top four, Matthew Upson was the only one to have the top two in the order they actually finished.Martin Keown, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Sue Smith, Leon Osman and Jermaine Beckford were the other pundits who also backed Mikel Arteta's side.Everyone else was wrong - but they were not alone there.Opta's 'supercomputer' can tell you your team's exact chances of winning any competition at any given time.It is actually a complex algorithm that uses a model based on betting market odds and the sports analytics company's own 'Power Rankings', which are calculated using past results.Last summer, before a ball was kicked, it simulated the outcome of all 380 Premier League games 10,000 times... and calculated that Liverpool were favourites, with a 28.5% chance of retaining their title.On the upside, Opta did have Aston Villa finishing fifth, but then it also thought Manchester United would end up 12th.AI did not exactly excel, either. It's prediction was generated using Microsoft Copilot Chat - we simply asked the tool to 'predict the Premier League table for the 2025-26 season', and it crowned City as champions.Not many people reading this can truthfully say they knew much better, though.Thousands of you made your predictions on the BBC website last August for the way the table would finish and, collectively, you voted that Liverpool would win.Arsenal, City and Chelsea completed your top four.Better luck next time, everyone.Y...