Supercomputer Predicts 2025–26 Premier League Table As Arsenal Punish Liverpool Slump

“It’s very early,” Mikel Arteta told everyone who was willing to listen after Arsenal opened up a four-point lead at the Premier League summit on Sunday.

The Gunners boss will have little success dousing the growing flames of expectation after his two closest rivals for the title, in theory, both lost on the same weekend Arsenal battled out another miserly 1–0 win. However, there is some justification behind his caution.

In a curious quirk, none of the last six teams to top the Premier League table after the opening nine matches of a new season have gone on to finish in first place. Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool were the most recent side to shine brightest before and after Halloween back in the hazy days of 2019.

Yet, Opta’s supercomputer takes into consideration these statistic intricacies alongside a myriad of other numerical factors, churning through the data and spitting out the most likely outcome across the remainder of the campaign, again in theory.

Arsenal’s lead may look convincing in this autumnal light, but can Liverpool and Manchester City be written off just yet?

In the omnipotent view of Opta’s supercomputer, it’s Arsenal’s title to lose. Another steely defensive display underpinned a tetchy contest at the Emirates. David Raya was forced into his first Premier League save since September by Crystal Palace, yet the Eagles could only muster one shot on target. Arsenal had just one goal-bound effort of their own but, crucially, Eberechi Eze’s flying volley found the bottom corner of his former team’s net.

As both Arteta and Jurriën Timber stressed postgame, the Gunners have “a lot” that can be improved. But if the stream of set-piece goals continues to flow, this resolute rearguard doesn’t appear likely to give up many chances. This confluence of qualities sees Arsenal win the league in two-thirds of the 10,000 simulations run by Opta.

It is Manchester City rather than Liverpool who are billed as Arsenal’s closest challengers. Pep Guardiola’s side may have also stumbled on Sunday, falling to a 1–0 reverse against Aston Villa, but the four-match losing streak endured by Arne Slot’s side has relegated them to the status of third place.

If the defending champions continue to be so resolutely dumbfounded by long balls, they will do well to climb that high.

Bournemouth are the side which ended the weekend in second. Opta don’t give the Cherries much hope of sustaining this staggering surge up the table and Andoni Iraola is inclined to agree. “It’s definitely a very good start, but it’s just a start,” the beaming Basque boss told Match of the Day.

“This season, the differences between teams are so small. It’s going to be difficult for us to earn more points, but we have to try.” In a league with such fine margins, why not dream a little?

2025–26 Premier League Title Race

When the creaking cogs of the supercomputer were first set in motion ahead of the season’s opening weekend, Manchester United were expected to finish a lowly 12th. That would still have represented an improvement upon last campaign’s disastrous 15th place, yet it is a far cry from the innate ambitions of the competition’s record champions.

United now boast three successive wins. Putting the odd obsession with one fan’s hair to one side, Ruben Amorim is beginning to belatedly show some signs of competence and cohesion. It’s only taken 11 months and more than £200 million ($266.2 million), but the Red Devils appear to no longer serve as the butt of every joke.

However, grand aspirations should perhaps be put on ice for now. Opta only expect United to finish ninth this season while they remain more likely to get relegated than win the league. As Amorim warned after Saturday’s triumph over Brighton & Hove Albion: “Three weeks ago, things looked very different, and it can change again just as quickly.”

Man Utd’s Predicted 2025–26 Premier League Season

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