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Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim’s real-life impact will need to upset the odds
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If all you want for Christmas is a shiny new supercomputer calculation of the probable outcome of the rest of the 2024/25 Premier League season, you’re in luck. Manchester United supporters might want to look away now. The supercomputer has come up with an unseasonably dismal projection for the Red Devils for the rest of the season despite replacing Erik ten Hag with Ruben Amorim. There’s better news for Liverpool and Wolves, but Nottingham Forest’s predicted slide to tenth makes them the Premier League’s biggest movers after the numbers were crunched. Sports betting site Bet Victor used artificial intelligence to predict the final Premier League table, analysing patterns from previous seasons after the first 16 fixtures. The algorithm also sucked in current form, squad depth, managerial quality and the typical trajectories of clubs in similar positions at this stage of the season, spitting out a projected table that has newly crowned champions Liverpool four points clear of Chelsea at the top. Arsenal and Manchester City complete the top four with Aston Villa missing out. Leicester City and Ipswich Town are the two teams relegated along with Southampton, whose change of manager somehow leads to 15 points added to their current total of five – still 15 points from safety and ten adrift at the bottom. But it’s Manchester United who will be most keen to prove the supercomputer wrong. The projection has them in 13th place, right where they currently sit in the real Premier League table. The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week. Ending the season with 45 points, while they’re not yet halfway there in reality, would be unthinkable for the Red Devils’ fans and ownership. It would be their lowest points total in a season since 1978/79, when 45 points was good for a ninth-placed finish between Villa and Coventry City in the old First Division. Amorim’s counterpart in the dugout in those days was Dave Sexton, who was replaced by Ron Atkinson a couple of years later. Steve Coppell and Jimmy Greenhoff shared top goalscorer honours for the Old Trafford club. Finishing in mid-table would be no more palatable now than it was then. United looked to have tapped the brakes on their poor run of form after four points from the first six available to Amorim but have since faltered, losing consecutive fixtures against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. The new boss will take encouragement from a win against Man City in the Manchester derby last weekend. Man United won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium but remained in 13th place. They’ll be in Premier League action again on Sunday, when Bournemouth – projected by the supercomputer to finish ten points ahead of United and won the corresponding fixture 3-0 last season – visit Old Trafford. Chris is a freelance writer and the author of the High Protein Beef Paste football newsletter. He's based in Warwickshire and is the Head of Media for Coventry Sphinx. "Are you not entertained? What do you want? " Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou hits back after dramatic 4-3 win Brighton striker Evan Ferguson wanted by three Premier League clubs in January deal: report “That was the secret”: Manchester United great reveals method to getting back into Sir Alex Ferguson's good books Four Four Two is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. ©
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