The opening fixtures of the Premier League season were reversed recently so our kneejerk reactions should be revisited, including an Everton sack prediction.
Those kneejerk reactions can be reviewed in their full glory, but here follows a thorough assessment of just how actually okay they were.
The Premier League title is probably just out of reach – that 7-0 Forest thrashing did their goal difference no good – and Liverpool eventually just about dumped them out of the Carabao Cup. But Brighton could soon have their third crack at an FA Cup semi-final since promotion.
Manchester City eliminated them at Wembley in 2019 and the Seagulls basically beat themselves when drawn against Manchester United four years later. An impressive comeback win over Chelsea has helped open up the competition again and Brighton should fear no-one. Not even Newcastle.
As written in August, they ‘boast a ludicrously stacked squad’ and ‘a trophy would feel like a fine and equally attainable next step towards establishing their position as a force’. Doubts remain over Fabian Hurzeler but his reaction to a record-setting defeat and the fact European qualification might be just out of reach bodes well.
It is certainly theoretical possible as Wolves are within touching distance of both Leicester and Ipswich in the Premier League table, but there would be no surprise if the current bottom three cannot extricate entirely themselves from the relegation zone come season’s end.
Southampton are as doomed as Sheffield United were before them, down to the red-and-white stripes and weird obsession with both Cameron Archer and Ben Brereton-Diaz. Ipswich deserve to face the same fate as Burnley for signing Aro Muric. Leicester might well go the same way as Luton, who are battling against successive relegations.
Either way, it is great to see another mention for the pre-season predictions in which half of us tipped Forest to go down.
Another unnervingly decent prognosis, albeit not one which required a great deal of foresight or expertise.
Wolves overachieved to finish in the bottom half last season, then doubled down on Gary O’Neil without ever actually supporting him. His new four-year contract came with the slight caveat of even more sales to the tune of more than £100m, a fraction of which was reinvested back into the team.
A 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, while far from a worrying start, represented the continuation of a miserable run of form which stretched across two seasons. O’Neil oversaw four wins in 29 games before his sacking and while Vitor Pereira has ostensibly steadied the ship, Wolves are pedalling frantically two points above choppy waters.
Not bad, but also ruinously embarrassing that at no point was Chris Wood mentioned as a contender.
When Erling Haaland burst out of the blocks with a record-breaking 10 goals in Manchester City’s first five games it seemed like another question of how high he would raise the bar. Not until fairly deep into a historically poor run of team results did it dawn that his individual brilliance had faded either as a cause, a consequence or both.
Salah might envy Haaland’s ludicrously well-remunerated new contract but the Norwegian has had to bow to the relentless production of the Egyptian king so far this season. The Liverpool forward has at least three more league assists than any other player in Europe’s top five divisions in 2024/25, and only former Golden Boot rival Harry Kane has been able to keep up in the European Golden Shoe race.
Outrageous.
It does, in all fairness, seem unlikely. Although it is difficult to decipher whether being relegated while winning the Europa League would be the least or most Spursy outcome imaginable.
Spurs had finished fifth and broke their transfer record in an exciting but ultimately flawed summer transfer window, so predicting a failure to qualify even for the lowly Europa Conference League was more outlandish than it seems in February, when Ange Postecoglou would take just missing out on continental football thank you very much, mate.
But yes, sitting 14th does feel quite sub-optimal in terms of Champions League aspirations. ‘The advent of European football from September onwards will start a balancing act it is difficult to envisage them mastering,’ it says here. They might possibly have managed if their whole squad had not been simultaneously struck down by muscle injuries Postecoglou cannot possibly control while running them into the ground.
There it is. A bona fide, stone cold, absolute gem of a miserably dreadful prediction. It took a while but it was worth the wait. Just look at it.
A phenomenal Community Shield performance and customary stumble past obdurate opposition at home to open the campaign has a lot to answer for, as well as a £200m summer spend. That Joshua Zirkzee fella looks handy, doesn’t he? And fair play for rinsing £25m out of those fools Napoli for Scott McTominay.
There was an element of it being what should happen rather than what will – ‘there is no excuse for Erik ten Hag and his players to fall short of that minimum bar of Champions League qualification’ – but at no stage did anyone expect it to a) get as bad as it did, or b) become even worse once Ten Hag was replaced.
The man loves a November deal renewal.
With an assist in each of the opening five games of the Premier League season, a total of 10 alongside five goals in the first 13 and some similarly commanding Champions League performances after his European Championship summer heroics, it seemed certain Saka would be in the running for long-overdue wider personal acclaim.
That he remains among the favourites to win the PFA Player of the Year award despite being sidelined with injury for almost two months is testament to a quality Arsenal have missed.
We are in teasing hourglass emoji territory so a late push to inspire an incredible, trophy-laden close to the season cannot be ruled out (until Arsenal collapse in on themselves out of sheer fear when confronted with Alexander Isak again in May).
That should have afforded time, patience, confidence and the foundations from which Dyche could build but they were squandered almost immediately and if anything a December salvo of successive draws with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City only crystallised the need for change.
David Moyes, like Dyche and Frank Lampard before him, inherited an Everton mess in January and was able to turn things around fairly quickly. The perhaps forlorn hope will be he can take them further than two middling years.
There aren’t many clubs whose managerial history Wikipedia entries list the number of days for each incumbent – even Watford just go for matches and the like – but Chelsea are happy to lean into the stereotype. And it handily reveals that Maresca recently passed the Graham Potter landmark, with Mauricio Pochettino about 100 days in the distance.
The Italian will absolutely reach and surpass that point, partly because he has overseen some improvements on his predecessor (while presiding over many of the same issues) and partly because at some point the Chelsea owners have to settle on someone for a respectable period of time.