The Premier League is in its final stage and Arsenal, which is the great candidate for glory, took a new step by narrowly beating Brighton in Falmer, while its direct rival, Manchester City, drew 2-2 with Nottingham Forest at home.
This article was originally published in SI FC
In the Opta supercomputer exercise, the winner of the trophy at the end of the season would be Arsenal with 83.99 expected points, followed by Manchester City with 76.02. Third would be Aston Villa with 65.55 units, while Manchester United would be fourth with 64.65.
Liverpool, Chelsea, Brentford, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Everton complete the season’s top 10.
|
Position |
Club |
Current points |
Expected points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1° |
Arsenal |
67 |
83.99 |
|
2° |
Manchester City |
60 |
76.02 |
|
3° |
Aston Villa |
51 |
65.55 |
|
4° |
Manchester United |
51 |
64.65 |
|
5° |
Liverpool |
48 |
62.98 |
|
6° |
Chelsea |
48 |
62.20 |
|
7° |
Brentford |
44 |
57.27 |
|
8° |
Everton |
43 |
53.56 |
|
9° |
Newcastle |
39 |
52.07 |
|
10° |
Bournemouth |
40 |
52.06 |
|
11° |
Fulham |
40 |
51.08 |
|
12° |
Sunderland |
40 |
50.28 |
|
13° |
Brighton |
37 |
50.11 |
|
14° |
Crystal Palace |
35 |
46.70 |
|
15° |
Leeds |
31 |
44.13 |
|
16° |
Tottenham |
29 |
42.21 |
|
17° |
Nottingham Forest |
28 |
38.45 |
|
18° |
West Ham |
28 |
35.14 |
|
19° |
Burnley |
19 |
27.80 |
|
20° |
Wolves |
16 |
22.15 |
According to Opta’s hypothetical AI exercise, the three that would lose the category would be West Ham, Burnley and Wolverhampton, with Nottingham Forest narrowly escaping. The Wolves managed to break Derby County’s record and will not be the worst team in the history of the Premier League by surpassing the 11-point line.
Both Chelsea and Liverpool would be on the verge of entering the UEFA Champions League by standings, although they could if they, or some other English club, become established in this competition or in the UEFA Europa League. Manchester United would finish nowhere near the podium and make an incredible return to the top European club competition.
Currently, Arsenal is the leader of the standings with 67 points, surpassing Manchester City by seven points at the end of matchday 29 of the competition, although the Gunners have one more game ahead of matchday 31, which they played against Wolves.
On the next day, Mikel Arteta’s men will host Everton at the Emirates and Pep Guardiola’s men will go to the London Olympic to visit West Ham, a club that needs to add.
Arsenal have not won the Premier League since the 2003/04 season under Arséne Wenger, in the team called “The Invincibles”. On that occasion, they scored 90 points, beating Chelsea by eleven points.
