Appliance of science shows Town fans are in for misery at season end

PREPARE yourselves Huddersfield

Town fans, it’s going to be a long old Premier League season - or so say the boffins.

The Terriers have been given an 84% chance of being relegated by a league prediction model developed by leading academics at the University of Reading.

In fact, the model suggests that

David Wagner’s side have a 35% chance of finishing bottom. Fulham are also tipped for the drop with an 89% chance of heading to the Championship.

Cardiff have a 60% chance, Southampton a 37% chance and Burnley a 14% chance.

At the other end of the table it’s Manchester City who are the overwhelming favourites for the title with an 84% chance of lifting the trophy at the end of the season.

Liverpool are second favourites with a 16% chance of winning the league.

Both sides have a 100% chance of finishing in the top four, however, so they can look forward to Champions League football next season.

Tottenham have a 90% chance of finishing in the top four, while Chelsea have a 67% chance, Arsenal a 22% chance and Manchester United a 21% chance.

The predictions have been made using a sophisticated metric that analyses historic results for each team as well as things like form, league position and even the day of the week the match is played. This gives an estimated number of goals for both sides in any given fixture, allowing the most likely result and score to be given.

Scores were calculated multiple times for every remaining game in the top four English leagues to provide forecast tables.

Dr James Reade, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Reading, said: “As the saying goes, if you’re bottom at Christmas then you’re doomed, and these predictions sadly back that up.

“However, they offer plenty of hope for other teams in relegation battles, as the forecasts show many currently languishing near the bottom of the table may pull off miracle escapes.”

Dr Carl Singleton, Lecturer in Economics at the University of Reading, said: “As we head into the packed festive programme of football, these forecasts show that the fight for promotion is far from over.

“The title race in the Premier League and League Two look set to go down to the wire, with the teams currently top predicted to have the trophy snatched from their grasp come May.”