Arsenal

How these 22 experienced pundits have got it all wrong with their title predictions

By soccersweep

Posted on Nov 15, 2015

Oh dear

Firstly, our wish is not to embarrass the professionals involved. If we were pulled up every time we called it wrong we wouldn’t able to leave the house for the shame.

But, in a measure of just how surprising Chelsea’s fall from grace has been this season, we have pulled up an article written by our favourite publication, The BBC, where the footy pundits were all asked to give their title predictions at the start of the campaign.

Looking back, the results were overwhelming at the time.

There typically seems to be a natural bias towards the current title holders when predictions are made in August. And a massive 22 out of 30 asked went for Chelsea to hold on to their trophy come May.

Manchester City

Of the seven brave enough to dissent, 7 had Chelsea as runners up and only 1 had them finishing out of the top 2.

That man was BBC reporter Alistair Mann who had Manchester City winning it, with Manchester United second and Chelsea in 3rd.

On current form, perhaps the only inaccurate part of that prediction is the notion that Chelsea will finish third. But he must be extremely happy with his other suggestions.

Of the others who didn’t go for Chelsea, Ian Wright, Gabby Logan, Trevor Sinclair and Didi Hammann went for Arsenal to take the title – a wise choice in retrospect as Arsenal continue to share the lead right now.

Then there were the mavericks, Dion Dublin and Steve Wilson, who felt that Manchester United would come out on top in The Premier League.

With Manchester United enjoying the best defensive record in the league and just 2 points off the pace right now, a few attacking additions in January may tip the scales in their favour.

But the best placed pundits right now have to be Mann and Chris Waddle. Both of these guys went with Manchester City to win the league.

Manchester United may well catch them. But the only team that is really recording cricket scores on a regular basis right now is Manchester City and they have to be the favourites for the title at this point.

But Manchester United and Arsenal fans will remain optimistic with two thirds of the campaign still to play.

So here is that list in full, courtesy of The BBC.