At the beginning of the season, after my World Cup prediction disasters, I decided to try and predict how the season would shape up. I’ve read my predictions again (and you can read them here: https://theblackstockblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/09/my-2014-15-premier-league-predictions-2/) and I think that these were probably better than my World Cup predictions from last year. Well, here’s how it went:
Premier League title
I predicted that Chelsea would win the title, which they did at ease. It wasn’t a shock prediction and one was it a shock title win for Chelsea, it’s something that most people probably expected. It was quite an easy prediction for me to make, even though Manchester City were the holders and Manchester United and Arsenal looked strong. Chelsea were deserved title winners from beginning to end. As an Arsenal fan that sentence is difficult to write, but it’s true.
Top four
The top four race, unlike the title race, was one that I found quite difficult to predict at the beginning of the season. I went with a prediction of Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United. This, controversially for some, left Liverpool out of the top four. I stood by that decision throughout the season, and it paid off. The top four turned out just like how I expected, but the race for Europe was even tighter. Southampton and West Ham were challenging early in the season as well. At the end of the season though, my top four prediction came right with Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United taking the four top places in that order.
Relegation
My relegation predictions weren’t as accurate as my other predictions. I predicted that Burnley, Leicester and West Brom would go down, and at Christmas that looked like it could happen. Burnely did go down, but they put up more of a fight than I imagined. At about Week 30 of the Premier League I thought that Leicester were still going to go down as well. Then they went on an amazing run and stayed up. It looks to be one of the greatest escapes in Premier League history. I thought West Brom were going to go down too after they appointed Alain Irvine but by New Year he was gone and Pulis was in. From then on there was no doubt from anyone that West Brom would stay up. QPR went down, a team that I thought might just stay up. They didn’t, and frankly they deserved to go down. Hull City also went down on the last day, they were a team who I thought bought very well in the summer, but that didn’t save them.
Top goalscorer
When I predicted who I thought would be top goalscorer, I took a lot of things into account. One thing that I didn’t take fully into account was Robin Van Persie’s questionable injury record. I said he would be top goalscorer, if he stayed fit. He didn’t. I did also predict that if not Aguero, Costa and Sanchez would challenge for the Golden Boot. They did challenge him and Aguero ended up taking the Golden Boot. In my predictions though, there was no mention of Harry Kane or Charlie Austin.
Player of the year
Another bad prediction from me here. I put Yaya Toure as someone who might end up being player of the season. It’s fair to say that he hasn’t really performed as expected this season. It’s been a bit on off for him, but City have still slightly relied on some moments of Toure brilliance. His performances have attracted attention though, reports suggest that he is set to link up with his old boss Roberto Mancini at Inter Milan. I also mentioned Ramsey as a potential player of the year. He also has struggled this season, mainly due to injury. Eden Hazard looks like the overwhelming player of the season, someone who despite his obviously quality I thought wouldn’t stand out as much at Chelsea with the arrivals of Costa and Fabregas. He proved me wrong and is quite deserving of his Player of the Season Award.
Surprise package
The team that I chose as my surprise package at the beginning of the season surprised everyone, but not for the reasons people thought. Newcastle were surprisingly bad this season, especially since the departure of Alan Pardew. Under John Carver they’ve been shocking and had they sustained that form all season then they wouldn’t deserve to be in the Championship, let alone the Premier League. They did mange to survive, just about.
It’s been a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to predictions this year. My title and top four predictions were completely spot on, but more other predictions weren’t as good. Maybe next season my predictions can be even more accurate.
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