Supercomputer data predicts Manchester City have a staggering 60 per cent chance to retain the Premier League title this season. Pep Guardiola and his star-studded squad are currently second in the standings after winning four and drawing two of their opening six games.
Erling Haaland continues to set the Premier League alight and his early-season goals tally marks a record since the ever-popular competition was rebranded before the 1992/1993 campaign. Haaland, 22, signed for City from German side Borussia Dortmund and his £51million fee already seems to be a bargain.
Boosted by their ten-goal frontman, City remain unbeaten and one point behind early-season pacesetters Arsenal as Guardiola and his men are also hoping to launch a Champions League charge following their impressive 4-0 win over Sevilla on Tuesday night.
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Despite winning the English crown four times in the last five seasons, European honours continue to elude City as Guardiola strives to end that hoodoo this campaign. But what are the chances they will be able to pick up both of the big ones this term?
According to the FiveThirtyEight supercomputer, City are heavy favourites to retain the Premier League and their likelihood of winning that competition stands at 60 per cent. Data analysed by the same website indicates that 85 points will be enough to edge out Liverpool (76 points).
Given what has happened over the last few seasons, though, that predicted tally appears to be low.
Predictions for the domestic cup competitions have not yet been processed - meaning it is impossible to suggest what probability City have at winning an unprecedented quadruple - but Champions League calculations put them as second-favourites (18 per cent) behind Bayern Munich (20 per cent).
Paris Saint-Germain (16 per cent) and Liverpool (10 per cent) are seen to be the other main contenders this season, with Tottenham and Chelsea at 3 and 2 per cent respectively.
How does the supercomputer work?
FiveThirtyEight uses SPI ratings - which have an attacking and defensive component - in order to determine which team is going to win a specific match. This is then all built up to see how many points each side will accumulate for when the season ends.
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