The Premier League season has come to a close and it was full of its usual thrills and spills.
Manchester City were crowned champions after an encapsulating title race with Arsenal, while Newcastle have continued their relentless development under Eddie Howe by sealing a Champions League spot. Elsewhere, Brighton and Aston Villa will also be playing in Europe next term.
It wasn’t such good news at the other end of the table as Leicester, Leeds and Southampton dropped into the Championship. It goes without saying, then, that it was another unpredictable campaign.
But how did the pundits get on? We take a look at all of their predictions and see who comes out on top. The best prediction earns three points, while we are going to be harsh and deduct a point for any ludicrous shouts that left looking rather foolish.
Champions
Gary Neville: Man City
Jamie Carragher: Liverpool
Roy Keane: Man City
Starting right at the top, it was indeed Manchester City who claimed the top-flight crown. Both Neville and Keane plumped for Pep Guardiola ’s men and were proven right as City claimed their third Premier League title in a row.
Both of them earn a point. However, the same cannot quite be said of ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher who picked his former side.
A title challenge never really materialised on Merseyside as Jurgen Klopp’s men finished a whopping 22 points off the pace.
Standings: Neville & Keane (3 points), Carragher (-1 point)
What was your worst pre-season prediction? Share your efforts in the comments below
Surprise challenger
Gary Neville: Spurs
Jamie Carragher: Spurs
Roy Keane: Spurs
Yikes. This wasn’t a good one for any of the pundits as they selected who could challenge the top two.
Spurs endured a rotten season as their challenge for a Champions League berth quickly evaporated , whilst Antonio Conte was sacked for an extraordinary outburst following a draw with Southampton. The North London side have missed out on any form of European football.
Each of Neville, Carragher and Keane are deserving of losing points on this one.
Standings: Neville and Keane (2 points), Carragher (-2 points)
Relegation
Carragher: Bournemouth, Brentford, Nottingham Forest
Neville: Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth
Keane: Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Bournemouth
Oh dear, another absolute disaster.
The former Liverpool man selected newly-promoted Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest to go straight back down - the pair doing excellently to stay up. Meanwhile, he also predicted Brentford to succumb to second-season syndrome and fall into the Championship; we're going to mark him down on the Bees prediction as they emphatically proved him wrong.
Gary Neville’s predictions look even worse as he selected all three of the promoted teams to go straight back down. In fact, all three of them stayed up - just the fourth time that has happened in Premier League history.
It was the same for Keane too, although we feel slightly harsh marking him down as he was giving his prediction in response to whether those three teams would struggle in the Premier League.
Standings: Neville and Keane (2 points), Carragher (-3 points)
