‘Paul Pogba as Player of the Year’: See how our writers got on in their Premier League predictions revisited

There were 11 points up for grabs in total, so how did our team get on?

Monday 14 May 2018 13:48 BST
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Premier League final day round up 2018

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So the Premier League is over for another season, and there were surprises and shocks along the way. But how surprised and shocked were our writers by this season?

We look back at their predictions at the start of this season to find out who knew their goalscorers from their flops and their contenders from their pretenders…

Premier League winner (Manchester City)

Miguel Delaney (Chief Football Writer): Predicted Manchester City correctly. Current score: 1/1

Ben Burrows (Sports News Editor): Predicted Manchester City correctly. Current score: 1/1

Jack Pitt-Brooke (Football Correspondent): Predicted Manchester City correctly. Current score: 1/1

Ed Malyon (Sports Editor): Predicted Manchester City correctly. Current score: 1/1

Mark Critchley (Northern Football Correspondent): Predicted Manchester City correctly. Current score: 1/1

Jack Austin (Sports Reporter): Predicted Manchester United… oops. Current score: 0/1

Samuel Lovett (Sports Reporter): Predicted Manchester City correctly. Current score: 1/1

Most of our writers went for Manchester City
Most of our writers went for Manchester City (Getty)

Jack de Menezes (Deputy Sports Editor): Predicted Manchester City correctly. Current score: 1/1

Luke Brown (Sports Reporter): Predicted Manchester City correctly. Current score: 1/1

Top four (Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool)

MD: Predicted Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs. That’s two points. Current score: 3/4

BB: Predicted Manchester United, Spurs and Chelsea for two points. Current score: 3/4

JPB: Predicted Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester United for two points. Current score: 3/4

EM: Predicted Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs and gets two points for it. Current score: 3/4

MC: Predicted Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool but still gets two points. Current score: 3/4

JA: The only one who predicted a United title win so had Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal. Another poor guess and just one point. Current score: 1/4

Manchester United were picked in everyone's top four
Manchester United were picked in everyone's top four (Getty)

SL: Went with Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United for two points. Current score: 3/4

JDM: Chose Chelsea, Spurs and United for two points as well. Current score: 3/4

LB: Predicted Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United for just the single point. Current score: 2/4

Bottom three (West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City, Swansea City)

MD: Huddersfield, Brighton and… erm… Burnley. That’s nil points! Current score: 3/7

BB: Brighton, Huddersfield and Newcastle and another zero point haul. Going well, this. Current score: 3/7

JPB: Huddersfield Town, Brighton and… Swansea City! That’s one point for JPB! Current score: 4/7

EM: Burnley, no, Brighton, no, and Huddersfield, no. No points. Current score: 3/7

No one predicted West Brom would be relegated
No one predicted West Brom would be relegated (Getty Images)

MC: Burnley and Huddersfield he got wrong but Stoke was a correct prediction for one point. Current score: 4/7

JA: Huddersfield, Brighton and Burnley (who seemed to surprise everyone) for another zero points. Current score: 1/7

SL: Huddersfield, Newcastle and Swansea and that is one point! Current score: 4/7

JDM: Predicted Huddersfield, Newcastle and Swansea for one point. Current score: 4/7

LB: Newcastle, Burnley and Huddersfield. No correct guesses. Current score: 2/7

Golden Boot (Mohamed Salah, 32 goals)

MD: Harry Kane – close but no cigar. Current score: 3/8

BB: Harry Kane. No. Current score: 3/8

JPB: Romelu Lukaku, scored exactly half as Salah. Current score: 4/8

EM: Predicted Gabriel Jesus, who only got 13. Current score: 3/8

Salah scored 32 goals in total
Salah scored 32 goals in total (Getty)

MC: Harry Kane. Nope. Current score: 4/8

JA: Harry Kane. Still no. Current score: 1/8

SL: Went with Gabriel Jesus. Current score: 4/8

JDM: Harry Kane. Wrong. Current score: 4/8

LB: Harry Kane. Incorrect. Current score: 2/8

Best signing (Mohamed Salah – no arguments)

MD: Bernardo Silva, he did well but didn’t set the world alight. Current score: 3/9

BB: Predicted Nemanja Matic. Again, did well but still no points. Current score: 3/9

JPB: Mohamed Salah! Hurrah! Another point for JPB. Current score: 5/9

EM: Another correct Mohamed Salah prediction! One point. Current score: 4/9

Salah was given the nod by a few of our writers
Salah was given the nod by a few of our writers (Action Plus via Getty Images)

MC: And that’s the hat-trick! Another point for a correct Mohamed Salah prediction. Current score: 5/9

JA: Went with Nemanja Matic, so no points. Current score: 1/9

SL: Nathan Ake…? Current score: 4/9

JDM: Alvaro Morata. Well actually we’ve seemed to lose his prediction for this one but he’s not writing this so he gets Morata. Current score: 4/9

LB: Popped for Kyle Walker, who was good, to be fair. Current score: 2/9

Flop of the season (a number of acceptable answers here)

MD: Went for Alexandre Lacazette but even though he didn’t hit the highs that Arsenal would have hoped, he’s not really a flop, so no points. Current score: 3/10

BB: Predicted Marko Arnautovic, arguably West Ham’s only good signing. No points. Current score: 3/10

JPB: Alvaro Morata, who is probably the correct answer so it’s a point! Current score: 6/10

EM: Marko Arnautovic, as well. So no points, as well. Current score: 4/10

Álvaro Morata failed to hit the heights people were expecting
Álvaro Morata failed to hit the heights people were expecting (Getty)

MC: Alvaro Morata, so that’s another point for MC. Current score: 6/10

JA: Chose Javier Hernandez, who has been very poor, so we will give him a point for that. Current score: 2/10

SL: Predicted Victor Lindelof, so that’s a point for that. Current score: 5/10

JDM: We’ve also lost his prediction for this one, so keeping in the spirit of making sure he gets no more points, JDM went with Mohamed Salah. What a terrible prediction. Current score: 4/10

LB: He went for Jermain Defoe at Bournemouth, who had a great season for Sunderland last year but only scored four times this season. But he was a free transfer. And he is 35. Difficult, but no points. Current score: 2/10

Player of the year (Mohamed Salah)

MD: Predicted Kevin De Bruyne, who just missed out. Final score: 3/11

BB: Kevin De Bruyne, see above. Final score: 3/11

JPB: Kevin De Bruyne, so no more points for JPB. Final score: 6/11

EM: Also went for Kevin De Bruyne so got it wrong. Final score: 4/11

MC: Another incorrect Kevin De Bruyne shout. Final score: 6/11

Kevin de Bruyne has been Manchester City's outstanding player this season, but not the Premier League's
Kevin de Bruyne has been Manchester City's outstanding player this season, but not the Premier League's (Getty)

JA: Did not go to De Bruyne but went for Paul Pogba, which is more wrong. Final score: 2/11

SL: Gabriel Jesus, who had an average season. Final score: 5/11

JDM: Plumped for Leroy Sane, which is an admirable effort, but a wrong one. Final score: 4/11

LB: Decided on Harry Kane, who failed in his player of the year attempt. Final score: 2/11

Final standings (out of 11 available points):

  1. Jack Pitt-Brooke and Mark Critchley (6 points)
  2. Samuel Lovett (5 points)
  3. Ed Malyon and Jack de Menezes (4 points)
  4. Miguel Delaney and Ben Burrows (3 points)
  5. Jack Austin and Luke Brown (2 points)

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