Around the start of every season after the summer transfer window has closed, I try to predict how the final league table will look as well as how we’ll do in the cups as well as league itself.
I also conduct match-by-match result predictions, both at the start of the season and then pre-match.
First of all, here’s that very prediction piece from back in September 2022.
Here’s how I did
Final League Table 2022-23:
1st Manchester City SPOT ON!
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2nd Arsenal 2 places out (had ‘em down for 4th)
3rd Manyoo 2 places out (had ‘em down for 5th)
4th Newcastle United 3 places out (had ‘em down for 7th)
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5th Liverpool 3 places out (had ‘em down for 2nd)
6th Brighton & Hove Albion 2 places out (had ‘em down for 8th)
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7th Aston Villa 8 places out (had ‘em down for 15th)!
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8th Tottenham Hotspur 5 places out (had ‘em down for 3rd)
9th Brentford 5 places out (had ‘em down for 14th)
10th Fulham 3 places out (had ‘em down for 13th)
11th Crystal Palace 1 place out (had ‘em down for 10th)
12th Chelsea 6 places out (had ‘em down for 6th)
13th Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 places out (had ‘em down for 17th)
14th West Ham United 5 places out (had ‘em down for 9th)
15th AFC Bournemouth 5 places out (had ‘em down for 20th)
16th Nottingham Forest 3 places out (had ‘em down for 19th)
17th Everton 1 place out (had ‘em down for 16th)
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18th Leicester City SPOT ON!
19th Leeds United 8 places out (had ‘em down for 11th)!
20th Southampton 8 places out (had ‘em down for 12th)!
Any comments to be had there?
I think getting 2 spot on, 5 either just 1 or 2 places out and then a further 4 just 3 places out sounds pretty decent on the face of it – 11 from 20 within 3 places of where the sides actually finished, in other words. But there are some gaping whoppers in there too, with a good number of 5s / 6s as well as three 8s.
Obviously Arsenal were a lot stronger than I expected and Manyoo too improved a little more than I’d guessed also. I was shocked at what a poor season Liverpool had and, in fact, only a late surge and upturn in form saw them finish as high as they did in 5th!
Newcastle also had a far stronger season than I expected and I think a lot of credit has to go to their manager. Brighton didn’t surprised me really, even though they went on to achieve 2 places better than I had predicted. I hope they keep hold of their manager next season but it will be difficult. If Pep is to make the 2024 / 25 season his last with us, dare I suggest that Roberto might be a candidate to replace him?
Spurs have had a really poor season…and who the ‘eck could have foreseen Chelsea finishing 12th?! 😲 I expect both of those clubs to do much, MUCH better with no European games to “get in the way” next season; especially Chelsea, I’d say.
I think I’ll end this section by saying well done to Forest but even more so Bournemouth, who I had not only as going down but doing so by finishing bottom! I’m pleased to have been proven wrong and, once again, their manager should get a lot of praise…as well as the players too, of course. With shrewd investment from their relatively new owners, they should see themselves as an established, mid-table Premier League side and they try to takes little steps forward.
Looking at our fixtures both pre-season and then pre-match?
Pre-season: 63.16% of results predicted correctly, which is exactly what I got the previous season!
Pre-match: Also 63.16% of results predicted correctly a day or two prior to games. Weird…
As for the cups…
League Cup - Predicted the final and, therefore, possible winners.
2 rounds out (knocked out in the quarter final)
F.A. Cup - Predicted Quarter final.
2 rounds out (got to the final and won it!)
Champions League - Predicted the final and, therefore, possible winners.
SPOT ON!
Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to say a massive well done to our EDS / Under-23s, our Under 18s / Academy as well as City Women.
The EDS / Under-23 won Premier League 2 by a massive 13 points, as well as having an incredible + goal difference of 49, which was 32-goals better than second placed, Liverpool.
The Under-18s also finished their league campaign champions; finishing 4-points clear of a very strong Sunderland side in second. They also came so close to a place in the F.A. Youth Cup final but were beaten in extra time by Arsenal.
As for the women’s team, I thought they did really-quite-well both taking into account the huge number of injuries I recall them having at the start of the season and considering the very-high standard of their three, main rivals – Arsenal, Manyoo and, eventual league winners, Chelsea. I think I’m right in saying also that they’ve lost a considerable number of star players to other sides in the last couple of transfer windows; particularly to sides abroad.
As well as finishing 4th – joint-3rd on points with Arsenal – and 10 points clear of 5th-placed Aston Villa; they reached the semi-final of the League Cup and quarters of the F.A. Cup. Their ventures into Europe this season ended very early, sadly.
I don’t THINK I’ve missed noting any other achievements our Academy, EDS or Women’s team had last season but I would be happy to be corrected / updated…
That’s it for a short time – it’s been a marathon getting four, rather large, close-season blog-postings out in such a short space of time (glad I did some prep work on two of 'em).
The next time I plan to sit in front of the PC and write about City is likely to be when we bring out our 2nd strip; where I’ll probably do an opinion piece about both that and our home kit, which was released a few weeks’ ago.
We’ll see – I might wait until our 3rd kit is out and do a ‘1 piece fing’ on all three…
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