After a long season of ups and downs, the summation of a campaign after the final whistle has blown gives a brief period of time for reflection and review of what has occurred over the past 9 months of football. Every player and club went through a gruelling effort over the course of the season, with some young players’ careers taking off, while other veteran careers came to a close.
Did any of us believe that Manchester City would be so dominant? Or that Burnley could somehow become a stable top half of the table side, while last season’s champions Chelsea struggled to stay in touch with the top 4 for the better part of the campaign?
Of course a review wouldn’t be complete without a comparison to how we anticipated and predicted multiple aspects of the season to play out.
A full guide of pre-season predictions can be found here - http://worldwidefantasyclub.blogspot.com.au/2017/07/epl-title-contenders-relegation.html
So here is the WFC review of our English Premier League predictions made prior to the season kick-off (15th of July 2017) and how things turned out after the 2017/18 season has finished.
Team | Prediction | Reality | |
Arsenal | Key Player | Mesut Özil | Shkodran Mustafi |
Top Scorer | Alexis Sánchez | Alexandre Lacazette (14) | |
Ladder Finish | 4th | 6th | |
Bournemouth | Key Player | Josh King | Nathan Akè |
Top Scorer | Jermain Defoe | Josh King/Callum Wilson (8) | |
Ladder Finish | 9th | 12th | |
Brighton | Key Player | Anthony Knockaert | Pascal Gross |
Top Scorer | Glenn Murray | Glenn Murray (12) | |
Ladder Finish | 18th | 15th | |
Burnley | Key Player | Robbie Brady | James Tarkowski |
Top Scorer | Sam Vokes | Chris Wood (10) | |
Ladder Finish | 19th | 7th | |
Chelsea | Key Player | Cesar Azpilicueta | Cesar Azpilicueta |
Top Scorer | Eden Hazard | Eden Hazard (12) | |
Ladder Finish | 1st | 5th | |
Crystal Palace | Key Player | Patrick Van Aanholt | Luka Milivojević |
Top Scorer | Christian Benteke | Luka Milivojević (10) | |
Ladder Finish | 13th | 11th | |
Everton | Key Player | Ashley Williams | Jordan Pickford |
Top Scorer | Wayne Rooney | Wayne Rooney (10) | |
Ladder Finish | 7th | 8th | |
Huddersfield | Key Player | Aaron Mooy | Jonas Lössl |
Top Scorer | Laurent Depoitre | Steve Mounie (7) | |
Ladder Finish | 20th | 16th | |
Leicester | Key Player | Jamie Vardy | Jamie Vardy |
Top Scorer | Jamie Vardy | Jamie Vardy (20) | |
Ladder Finish | 14th | 9th | |
Liverpool | Key Player | Sadio Manè | Roberto Firmino |
Top Scorer | Roberto Firmino | Mohamed Salah (32) | |
Ladder Finish | 6th | 4th | |
Manchester City | Key Player | Vincent Kompany | David Silva |
Top Scorer | Sergio Agüero | Sergio Agüero (21) | |
Ladder Finish | 2nd | 1st | |
Manchester United | Key Player | Paul Pogba | David De Gea |
Top Scorer | Romelu Lukaku | Romelu Lukaku (16) | |
Ladder Finish | 5th | 2nd | |
Newcastle | Key Player | Matt Ritchie | Jamaal Lascelles |
Top Scorer | Dwight Gayle | Ayoze Pèrez (8) | |
Ladder Finish | 10th | 10th | |
Southampton | Key Player | Dušan Tadić | Dušan Tadić |
Top Scorer | Manolo Gabbiadini | Charlie Austin (7) | |
Ladder Finish | 8th | 17th | |
Stoke | Key Player | Xerdan Shaqiri | Xerdan Shaqiri |
Top Scorer | Marko Arnautovic | Xerdan Shaqiri (8) | |
Ladder Finish | 15th | 19th | |
Swansea | Key Player | Gylfi Sigurdsson | Alfie Mawson |
Top Scorer | Fernando Llorente | Jordan Ayew (7) | |
Ladder Finish | 17th | 18th | |
Tottenham | Key Player | Moussa Dembèlè | Christian Eriksen |
Top Scorer | Harry Kane | Harry Kane (30) | |
Ladder Finish | 3rd | 3rd | |
Watford | Key Player | Heurelho Gomes | Abdoulaye Doucourè |
Top Scorer | Troy Deeney | Abdoulaye Doucourè (7) | |
Ladder Finish | 16th | 14th | |
West Brom | Key Player | Matt Phillips | Ahmed Hegazi |
Top Scorer | Salomón Rondón | Salomón Rondón/Jay Rodriguez (7) | |
Ladder Finish | 11th | 20th | |
West Ham | Key Player | Manuel Lanzini | Marko Arnautovic |
Top Scorer | Michail Antonio | Marko Arnautovic (11) | |
Ladder Finish | 12th | 13th |
And here is how the table played out in comparison to how we anticipated,
With all said and done, we congratulate Manchester City on a record breaking season, where they re-captured the EPL title – their 3rd league title in the Premier League era.
WFC would also like to congratulate Mohamed Salah for an individual season to be amazed about where he won three player of the month awards and the player of the season award for his 32 goals and 10 assists over the course of the season.
We now shift our focus to the FIFA World Cup in Russia, where we could see Germany create a dynasty after winning the 2014 tournament and are going into Russia as one of the top favourites. Along with Germany there are many other nations that have a chance of claiming the trophy, while others could announce themselves as dark horses and future threats.
Stay in touch with the WFC accounts for World Cup previews, line-ups and analysis of what we believe will occur in Russia 2018.
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