5 Bold Premier League Preseason Predictions, Revisited

Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool lifting the trophy at season's end was not in my forecast, but never have I been so happy to get a prediction wrong

Way back in August, with the dawn of a new Premier League season within us, I offered 5 bold takes for how the 2024-25 season would transpire. I had no idea in August 2024 how different life would look in May 2025, in ways both good (my beloved Liverpool winning the fookin' league) and bad (just about everything else in my life and the World at large). But indeed, here we are yet again, with another season in the rearview mirror.

Now, for me, much like my favorite team, the season has been over a while now. Just as the players and coaches themselves were, I have been in a constant state of drunken celebration. I personally have spent the last month reveling in Liverpool's Premier League title, and shirking my responsibilities as a self-employed Premier League correspondent. But the season is officially in the rearview, and as we tie a bow on 9 months of thrilling football-- culminating in a Decision Day two weeks ago that saw Liverpool lift the Premier League trophy in front of a packed Anfield for the first time in 35 years, their star Mohamed Salah polish off his 4th Golden Boot and 2nd Playmaker of the Year awards in 7 years, Chelsea and Newcastle wrestle the last Champions League spots from Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, and Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton mourn their immediate relegation down to the Championship --I thought it might be fitting to look back at how those projections held up. Despondent with my weak 2/5 finish to my weekly predictions, and a serious downturn from last year's mark (my final tally was 78.5/150, a good enough for 65%, a good 13% drop from last year's personal best).

Anyways, before we delve into how prescient or horribly off-base I was, let me remind you that the title of the original piece did foreshadow the high probability that I look foolish come June. With that in mind, these are 5 things I predicted would transpire, in order of what I expected the least to most foolhardy prophesies would be:

1. One-- but not both --of Chelsea and Manchester United will come good.

The result: Nailed it!

To be fair, I guess this somewhat depends on your definition of "come good." Chelsea are one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, and after the absurd (and questionably legal?) spending sprees they've enjoyed the last couple summers, really should be expected to be a title contender, and after a brief window wherein they looked the part, a midseason stumble and 4th-place finish may be a disappointment for many fans. But I defined it in my piece as a "return to Champions League football," and after the horrific last couple seasons the Blues have had, accomplishing that feat plus adding some silverware to the trophy cabinet with their UEFA Conference League triumph constitutes a solid season. Manchester United, on the other hand...well, what can be said about them that hasn't already been said ad nauseum (and gleefully) by me on this blog all season. Safe to say zero trophies, a midseason managerial change, watching their biggest rivals win the league, 4 losses to an equally abysmal Tottenham team including on the biggest of stages, and a 15th-place finish does not constitute "coming good."

2. Manchester City will 5-peat.

The result: WRONG!!! In the most delightful way 😇

To be fair, I was far from the only one making this prediction preseason, and who could blame us? Since Pep Guardiola's arrival to Manchester City in 2017, the Cityzens have had a "Nick Saban's Alabama" stranglehold on the league with the notable exception of Liverpool's record-setting 2019-20. Like many, I didn't write City off after an inconsistent start to the season, nor even after a particularly brutal stretch from Halloween to New Year's that saw them a grand total of 1 (One) match in all competitions; we'd seen this story so many times before, and it always ended with a crazy winning streak from January forward as City surged to the title. But not long after the turn of the new year, as the champions continued to sputter, and Liverpool and (at that time) Arsenal and even Nottingham Forest continued to win and separate themselves, it started to become clear that this was finally going to be the end of Pep and co.'s dynastic hold on the trophy. Fortunately this lifelong diehard Red, the team that would step up to fill that void was my beloved Liverpool, who pulled away from the pack with a crucial late February stretch that included a second win over the aforementioned City, and never looked back.

3. Erling Haaland will NOT 3-peat as Golden Boot winner.

The result: RIGHT! In the most delightful way 😇

If it was clear City's reign as champions was coming to an end by Christmas, arguably, their talismanic Erling Haaland remained in the Golden Boot conversation a little bit longer. Sure, Liverpool's Salah was setting the benchmark with a blistering 17 goals in the first half of the season, and Nottingham's Chris Wood and Newcastle's Alexander Isak weren't all that far behind him. But there was Haaland, two-time reigning Golden Boot winner, in the mix with them, even as his team struggled more than they were used to, and if they were to go on the aforementioned turnaround we've come to annually expect, there would be seemingly be plenty more goals for the taking. Just as was his team's fate, though, it simply wasn't to be for Haaland this season, as a serious injury in early March knocked him out for most of the rest of the year, and he along with all other contenders simply couldn't keep up with Salah's incredible first half of the season. With 29 goals on the year, his second-highest tally in his Liverpool career, the Egyptian King took home a joint-record 4th Golden Boot award.

4. At least 2 of the 3 newly-promoted teams will stay up.

The result: Whoops.

Last year, my boldest preseason prediction was that all three newly-promoted teams would go right back down, something that had not happened since 1998. I got that prediction right, a real feather in my cap, and it turns out I should have stuck with the same logic for this season. I was enticed by the big names of Leicester City and Southampton, two teams that had been mainstays in (and even champions of) the top flight for most of my adult life, and whose relegation two seasons ago had felt almost like a freak occurrence. I was also intrigued by the underdog story of Ipswich Town, who had claimed unlikely back-to-back promotions and had a respected manager, and groundswell of real support. As it turns out, the lights were just a little too bright for Ipswich, who fought valiantly for much of the season, but just didn't have the horses to stay up at the top level. And Leciester and Southampton, almost inexplicably, were even poorer in this go-round than they were two seasons ago, when both got relegated down to the Championship for the first time in years. A total of 4 managers and 2 caretaker managers between them couldn't do anything to find the Foxes or Saints any consistent footing in the league this season, and in fact, the latter only barely avoided the statistical worst Premier League season in history. So, not only did 2 of the 3 not stay up, not one of the 3 stayed up, in one of the least-competitive relegation "races" we've seen in some time.

5. The title race, Top 4 race, Europa/Conference League race, and Relegation race will all include a bald manager.

The result: Basically nailed it!

This was one of the more fun and out-there preseason predictions I've ever made, borne mostly out of enjoyment over the fact that there were so many bald managers...at least at the start of the season. Therein lies the one problem with my prediction, it didn't really account for the fact that any relegation-threatened team might be inclined to sack their manager, as the case for two of the baldies, Everton's Sean Dyche and Manchester United's Erik ten Hag. Still, given where those teams were at the time they dismissed their top men, it's not a stretch to argue Dyche and ten Hag were somewhat involved in the Relegation race. And as for everything else? Europa Conference League qualifiers (and title contenders from August to February) Nottingham Forest- managed by this guy. Champions League qualifiers and Europa Conference League champions Chelsea- managed by this guy. Defending Premier League champions and Champions League qualifiers Manchester City- managed by this handsome guy. And newly crowned kings of England? Managed by this beautiful, bald bastard.

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In the end, my bold preseason predictions only yielded a couple total misses! If you're feeling generous, you could say I got 3/5, and if you're feeling like you want to be draconian, I suppose you could say I went 2/5. Smh.

The good news is, regardless of your desired level of generosity, getting at least partial credit on three out of the five, including two of the bolder predictions is a serious improvement from the first couple years wherein I was only good for 1 fully accurate take, so I will happily accept it! Just like my beloved Liverpool, we are so back!!