BBC Sport pundits predict Premier League top four – What a massive change from 2022/23 predictions… | OneFootball

BBC Sport pundits have predicted the Premier League top four for the new season.

Twenty six of them in total.

Working for both BBC Sport on TV and radio, each of the 26 picking their Premier League quartet to finish top four in this 2023/24 season.

We covered these BBC Sport predictions earlier on Thursday.

So, BBC Sport asked the following for their thoughts on what would happen towards the very top end of the Premier League.

We did a break breakdown of how many of the 26 ‘experts’ selected each club as one of their four choices:

26 Man City

26 Arsenal

22 Man Utd

21 Liverpool

4 Newcastle United

3 Chelsea

2 Aston Villa

A lot of Newcastle United fans in particular have found the predictions laughable, only two totally neutral (not counting former players Waddle and Given) BBC Sport pundits selecting NUFC, even though Eddie Howe led United to a very deserved fourth spot.

I think the biggest laugh was the disparity between Newcastle United getting four votes, whilst 22 for Man Utd and 21 for Liverpool.

Anyway, for anyone thinking the BBC Sport pundits are lazy and totally predictable, what was the case 12 months ago (thanks to ‘Lord’ in The Mag comments section, for the suggestion)…

This was after Eddie Howe had led Newcastle United to the third best (only Man City and Liverpool better) Premier League form in the second half of the 2021/22 PL season.

With 23 BBC Sport pundits making a combined 92 selections, that breaks down to…

23 Man City

23 Liverpool

22 Tottenham

13 Chelsea

8 Arsenal

3 Man Utd

0 Newcastle United

So even though Liverpool failed to live up to their predictions last season, the BBC Sport pundits overwhelmingly supporting them last summer and now this summer, plus a significant upheaval this summer in terms of players leaving and going.

Then whilst only 3 BBC Sport pundits predicted top four for Man Utd in the 2022/23 season, they now have 22 of 26 backing them for the new season, compared to only 4 for Newcastle United. That is despite very similar seasons in 2022/23 and I would say arguably NUFC having the far better summer 2023 transfer window trading, compared to the Old Trafford club.

Interesting to see what the reality will be.