As another enthralling Premier League season comes to a close, Manchester United and Liverpool are embroiled in a classic top-four battle. Under Erik ten Hag, the Red Devils had been cruising towards Champions League qualification. However, back-to-back 1-0 defeats to Brighton and West Ham have propelled Liverpool back into contention.
Jurgen Klopp’s team have won five consecutive games since drawing 2-2 with Arsenal last month, gaining momentum at the ideal time of the season. While the Premier League title race has long looked like it will go down to the wire, the two teams that would join Manchester City and Arsenal in the Champions League appeared to be pretty much set, before United’s slump in form.
Supercomputer gives Manchester United, Liverpool verdicts
Manchester United and Newcastle have occupied the remaining two positions in the top four, and both appeared to have enough left in the tank to hold off any late opposition. Liverpool, however, have appeared out of nowhere. Following months of mediocrity, the Reds have won six games in a row at the opportune time.
And with both Manchester United and Newcastle dropping points on Sunday, the table has become intriguingly tight. Supercomputer at FiveThirtyEight analyses data to predict how the end of the season will play out, including the top four battle and the title race.
The supercomputer at FiveThirtyEight believes Liverpool has given themselves too much to do in the final weeks of the season. Liverpool are now one point behind Manchester United, but Ten Hag’s team has a game in hand that might be significant. On paper, Liverpool’s schedule looks fortunate, with travels to struggling Leicester and Southampton sandwiched between home games against Aston Villa.
Meanwhile, Manchester United will play Wolves next before travelling to Bournemouth. Then they welcome struggling Chelsea to Old Trafford, followed by another home encounter against Fulham. According to FiveThirtyEight, Manchester United will win two and draw two of their remaining matches to finish with 71 points, while Liverpool will win two and lose one to finish with 68.
If it comes down to goal difference, the Merseysiders will be favourites, with Klopp’s team sitting on +25 and United on a fairly meagre +8. Elsewhere on top of the table, the supercomputer predicts Manchester City will win the Premier League by four points over Arsenal.
While it believes Brighton will win the second Europa League slot ahead of Tottenham, Spurs will qualify for the Europa Conference League ahead of Aston Villa. It predicts Nottingham Forest to jump Leeds United into 17th place, with Sam Allardyce’s men relegated alongside Everton and Southampton.
Whatever the outcome may be, there’s no denying that this Premier League season has been one of the most exciting, with Arsenal emerging as shock title contenders, and Chelsea on the verge of embroiling in a relegation battle. Nobody saw the Blues’ £600 million spending spree, neither Tottenham going from one permanent manager to sacking an interim coach to appoint another.