Tuesday 26th May 2026
PL 2025/26 comes to an end
With Arsenal already crowned as Champions in midweek the remaining issues to be decided on the final day of the 2025/26 PL season were who would join Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley in the Championship and who would playing in European competition next season.
Tottenham Hotspur knew that if they avoided defeat at home to Everton they would be safe. West Ham United had to beat Leeds United at the London Stadium and hope the Toffees could do them a favour. West Ham did their bit by scoring 3 second half goals to see off their visitors 3-0 and move onto 39 points. Unfortunately for them, the Everton we saw a couple of weeks ago that held, and nearly beat, Manchester City to hand the title initiative back to Arsenal, did not turn up at the Tottenham Stadium as they put in a meek performance to allow their hosts to dominate and run out 1-0 winners. It sparked huge celebrations, mainly of relief, as the north London club narrowly escaped relegation. Two consecutive 17th place finishes tell their own story though with Roberto de Zerbi having a big re-building job on his hands. The same is true for Nuno Espirito Santo, or whoever will be in charge of West Ham next season, as the Irons drop back into the Championship, the third time they have been relegated from the PL and the first since 2011. On that occasion they came straight back up again under Sam Allardyce. Can they do it again?
Aston Villa spoiled Pep’s final day as Manchester City manager as they came from behind to win 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium, 2 more goals from Ollie Watkins as he continues his fine form with the World Cup just weeks away. (That, of course, does not guarantee you a spot on the plane though. Just as Morgan Gibbs-White. Surely a shoo-in but no!). Villa’s victory meant they finished 4th and denied 6th place a place in next season’s CL. Thus, both 6th and 7th qualify for the EL and 8th for the Conference League. AFC Bournemouth were in pole position for 6th place and duly secured it with a 1-1 draw away to Nottingham Forest, finishing the PL season unbeaten in their final 18 matches. An incredible season for the club and departing coach Andoni Iraola. Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea sat in the other two places before the final day but both lost abjectly, Brighton 3-0 at home to Manchester United, Chelsea 2-1 away to Sunderland in a truly feckless display. With Brentford, who started the day in 9th also failing to win as they drew 1-1 at Anfield, the Black Cats leapfrogged them all to claim 7th place and a EL place next season. Brighton clung onto 8th place for Conference League football. Brentford finished 9th, Chelsea 10th.
I don’t think it was a classic PL season but the emergence of clubs such as Bournemouth, Sunderland, Brighton and Brentford all challenging for and, some securing, European qualification shows that the PL is more competitive than ever. Big clubs like Chelsea, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur all struggled. Defending champions Liverpool also struggled although managed to salvage a CL spot for next season. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens in the transfer market over the summer, especially with the World Cup reducing the amount of time available for clubs to try to attract some of the World’s best players. The inevitable managerial merry-go-round will also be intriguing. Tottenham and Chelsea have already appointed the men they hope will transform their fortunes next season whilst question marks remain over other managers such as Arne Slot and Eddie Howe although both are expected to remain in their respective dugouts for the time being. Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are looking to replace Iraola and Oliver Glasner respectively with Fulham also possibly needing to look for someone to take over from Marco Silva. A lot going on.
Hull City spared the EFL’s blushes by securing promotion back to the PL as they beat Middlesbrough 1-0 at Wembley in the Championship playoff final, thus making the “Spygate” scandal academic. They join Coventry City and Ipswich Town in the PL next season, all looking to emulate Sunderland and Leeds United by staying up and, in Sunderland’s case, crack the top 10 and qualify for European competition.
As ever, all that remains now is for me to thank everyone for taking part once again in the Prediction competition. Hopefully it continues to add some additional interest to the PL season.
I also want to plug my upcoming World Cup 2026 Prediction Competition which will be open for business very shortly once I have completed updates to the website to deal with the extra 16 countries taking part and the inevitable changes in match order, qualification rules etc… that FIFA love to make. Watch this space!
Premier League Prediction Competition 2025-26 – Session 8, Week 5 (of 5)
Quite an end to the final session of the season with both overnight session leader John S and John F recording a miserable 8 points each to drop out of contention for the final session overall prize. Nick put up 36 points to take the final POTW but that was only enough for a 4th place finish overall. Martin scored 16 points to finish 3rd overall but was overtaken for the runners up spot by Tony, for whom a Spurs win prediction finally came good, as he stormed into second place. 16 points was not enough for Martin to secure a final prize but it did prove enough for Stefan to claim the Session 8 title by a single point and his second session title in the season.
Congratulations to Stefan and all prize winners this session and throughout the season.
2024/25 Season Summary:
| Person | Session Wins | Runners Up | POTWs | Total Prize Money | Profit/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve | 3 | 1 | 6 | £105.00 | £65.00 |
| Stefan | 2 | 1 | 6 | £80.00 | £40.00 |
| John F | 1 | 2 | 2 | £55.00 | £15.00 |
| Martin | 1 | 0 | 6 | £50.00 | £10.00 |
| Nick | 0 | 0 | 3 | £35.00 | -£5.00 |
| Vince | 1 | 0 | 2 | £30.00 | -£10.00 |
| John S | 0 | 1 | 4 | £30.00 | -£10.00 |
| Tony | 0 | 1 | 2 | £20.00 | -£20.00 |
| Peter | 0 | 0 | 3 | £15.00 | -£25.00 |
| Helen | 0 | 0 | 2 | £10.00 | -£30.00 |
| Guy | 0 | 0 | 2 | £10.00 | -£30.00 |
Prizes are very modest currently due to modest entry. If anyone has friends, family, work colleagues etc… who may be interested in taking part, please pass on an invitation to them. More competitors means bigger prizes.
PLEASE INVITE ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN TAKING PART.
CONTACT ME AT… contact.sytykf@gmail.com No fixtures for this gameweek
Season: 2025-26 - Session: 9
| Pos | Person | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1st= | Helen Bold | 0 |
| 1st= | John Faulkner | 0 |
| 1st= | Peter Gillespy | 0 |
| 1st= | Vince Hemsley | 0 |
| 1st= | Guy Hitch | 0 |
| 1st= | Tony Kenley | 0 |
| 1st= | Nick King | 0 |
| 1st= | Steve Leach | 0 |
| 1st= | Stefan Perry | 0 |
| 1st= | John Spencer | 0 |
| 1st= | Martin Wilson | 0 |
Season: 2025-26 - Match Week - Next Fixtures
| Home | Score | Away |
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