Which BBC pundit got his predictions spot on - and how did the others fare?

7 months ago 41
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If you are thinking of making some football predictions anytime soon, it might be a good idea to find out what Stephen Warnock thinks first.

Out of the 27 BBC pundits who back in August had a go at picking who would finish in the Premier League's top four, and in which order, Warnock was the only one to get it exactly right.

Not many people reading this can truthfully say they knew much better, though.

More than 100,000 of you made your predictions for the way the table would finish on the BBC website and only 5% put Villa in any of the Champions League places. According to you, they were going to finish eighth, not fourth.

 1st Man City, 2nd Arsenal, 3rd Liverpool & 4th Aston Villa

You can see the pundits' pre-season top-four predictions in full, below - and when it came to choosing who would end up as champions they all did pretty well.

Ellen White was the only pundit not to go with Manchester City to win the title but her pick, Arsenal, took the race to the final day, and she was also the only one other than Warnock to include Villa in their top four.

It was Manchester United's turbulent campaign that caught most people out, including our 'professional' predictor Chris Sutton.

Sutton - who picks Premier League scores for BBC Sport on a weekly basis - was one of 23 pundits to put United in their top four... but they were the team who actually finished eighth.

Ellen WhiteArsenalMan CityMan UtdAston Villa
Stephen WarnockMan CityArsenalLiverpoolAston Villa
Fara WilliamsMan CityChelseaArsenalMan Utd
Leon OsmanMan CityMan UtdArsenalLiverpool
Steve SidwellMan CityMan UtdLiverpoolArsenal
Lindsay JohnsonMan CityArsenalMan UtdNewcastle
Chris WaddleMan CityArsenalNewcastleMan Utd
Rachel Brown-FinnisMan CityArsenalNewcastleMan Utd
Pat NevinMan CityArsenalNewcastleLiverpool
Shay GivenMan CityLiverpoolArsenalNewcastle
Glenn MurrayMan CityArsenalChelseaMan Utd
Danny GabbidonMan CityArsenalLiverpoolChelsea
Chris SuttonMan CityArsenalMan UtdLiverpool
Sue SmithMan CityArsenalMan UtdLiverpool
Dion DublinMan CityArsenalMan UtdLiverpool
Michael BrownMan CityArsenalMan Utd Liverpool
Karen BardsleyMan CityArsenalMan UtdLiverpool
Jermaine BeckfordMan CityArsenalMan UtdLiverpool
Matt UpsonMan CityArsenalMan UtdLiverpool
Ashley WilliamsMan CityArsenalMan UtdLiverpool
Martin KeownMan CityArsenalLiverpoolMan Utd
Micah RichardsMan CityArsenalLiverpoolMan Utd
Anita AsanteMan CityArsenalLiverpool Man Utd
Nedum OnuohaMan CityArsenalLiverpoolMan Utd
Danny MurphyMan CityArsenalLiverpoolMan Utd
Clinton MorrisonMan CityArsenalLiverpoolMan Utd
Rob GreenMan CityArsenalLiverpoolMan Utd

Seven teams featured in the forecasted top fours, but only Manchester City and Arsenal featured in all 27.

1. Man City2. Arsenal3. Man Utd4. Liverpool5. Newcastle6. Chelsea7. Aston Villa
103 pts74 pts36 pts33 pts8 pts6 pts2 pts

(using system of 4 pts for a 1st place, 3 pts for 2nd, 2 pts for 3rd and 1 pt for 4th)

Sheff Utd's title glory? Who did you choose to be champions?

You also predominantly backed City to finish first - 66% of you correctly went with Pep Guardiola's side to win their fourth title in a row, followed by Arsenal who took 18% of the vote.

Mind you, maybe not everyone was being completely serious when they made their predictions - 70 of you bravely predicted Sheffield United would end up as champions, and they finished 75 points behind City.

Your overall top-four based on all the votes was still a pretty good effort, though.

City were top, followed by Arsenal and Liverpool, so you got the first three in the correct order - something only nine of our pundits managed - but Manchester United fooled you into thinking they would finish fourth too.

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