Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has predicted that Liverpool will retain their Premier League title this season, despite admitting to making a few mistakes in his final table. The top-flight is set to return after a three-month hiatus on Friday evening, with the reigning champions hosting Bournemouth at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s Reds will be aiming for a strong start following their dominant title win, while Andoni Iraola’s Cherries will be hoping to cause an upset after narrowly missing out on European competition last term. Liverpool are the favourites to win consecutive titles, a prediction that Red Devils icon Ferdinand agrees with. He also predicts Arsenal to finish second, followed by Manchester City and Chelsea completing the top four. However, Ferdinand forecasts a less fortunate fate for the three promoted sides, Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland, believing they will all face relegation.
In a TikTok video ahead of the new season, Ferdinand used a filter to randomly select teams and predict their final league positions. This method led to some surprising results and a few immediate changes of mind.
In total, the former England defender changed his initial predictions for five teams, including placing Tottenham ahead of Newcastle in fifth and positioning Crystal Palace, Brighton and Aston Villa in the lower half of the table.
“[Wolves] I’m gonna go 16th. [Nottingham] Forest, because they’re in Europe, I’m gonna put them down a little bit this season… I’m gonna go ninth. Everton, I’ll go middle of the road somewhere, 13th,” began Ferdinand.
“Fulham 10th. Arsenal, No. 2. Burnley just down [18th]. Chelsea fourth and Man City, I’m gonna go third, still on a hangover. I’m gonna go eighth for West Ham.
“Newcastle, now I’m gonna go sixth. Man United seventh, but could be sixth United. Brentford, 17th, lost some good players, man, lost their manager too.”
Ferdinand then realised he made an error when choosing his final league table through the randomised format, as he declared: “What am I thinking, Brighton should be eighth, but got to go 11th now.
“Liverpool, first, they’re gonna win it, unfortunately. Bournemouth 12th. Sunderland, bottom [20th], down. Oh, Spurs, Spurs aren’t finishing fifth. Got to put them fifth, but Newcastle should be above Spurs.
“Oh, [Aston] Villa! Another one I’ve missed. Villa are 14th,” he laughed, suggesting he should have put them much higher. “[Crystal] Palace are 15th as well. Leeds, my old team, is 19th, unfortunately.
“I want Leeds to stay up, but I don’t think they’re capable. All three teams that have come up will go down. I’ve messed up. You know who I’m confident is gonna finish higher than I’ve said here.
“Palace will finish higher than 15th. Villa will 100 percent finish higher than fourth and Brighton will finish higher than 11th. All the others are around about where they should be, Spurs are too high actually.”
