After Liverpool lost Jurgen Klopp, appointed a relatively unknown Dutchman after being rejected by Xabi Alonso, and made £12.5m winger Federico Chiesa their headline signing, few had the Reds down for Premier League glory.
By late April, there was a rush on red flares on one half of Merseyside, and a shortage of humble pie across the rest country.
This time around, the picture couldn’t be much different.
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They’ve broken the bank this summer to sign Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, and are still eyeing another record-breaking move for Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak.
In short, the pressure’s on to perform, not least from the club’s accountants, but an AI supercomputer has the Reds buckling in their retention bid.
Liverpool are spending heavy, and want to break the transfer record again for Alexander Isak, but it may not be enough (Image credit: Getty Images)
The prediction, via Sportscasting, has them finishing third, behind champions Manchester City and, you guessed it, perennial runners-up Arsenal in second place.
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea round off the top four, but are some 13 points off the league leaders.
There are few shocks foretold at the other end of the table with the three promoted sides – Burnley, Sunderland and Leeds United this time – all dropping back down for the third consecutive season, the latter managing just 28 points.
Manchester United likely have the biggest grin of all, apart from their city neighbours, having gained 10 places on last season’s 15th-placed finish to bag a Europa League spot.
Swipe to scroll horizontallySupercomputer-predicted Premier League table in full
Position
Team
Points
1
Manchester City
92
2
Arsenal
88
3
Liverpool
85
4
Chelsea
79
5
Manchester United
76
6
Aston Villa
70
7
Tottenham Hotspur
67
8
Newcastle United
63
9
West Ham United
60
10
Everton
56
11
Brighton & Hove Albion
54
12
Wolverhampton Wanderers
52
13
Brentford
50
14
Fulham
48
15
Crystal Palace
45
16
Bournemouth
43
17
Nottingham Forest
40
18
Burnley
35
19
Sunderland
32
20
Leeds United
28