THE two sides battling it out to win the Premier League title both lost this weekend.
Arsenal were hit by the famous new-manager bounce as Sean Dyche’s Everton took a deserved 1-0 win at Goodison Park on Saturday.
On Sunday, though, Manchester City missed the chance to close the gap at the top of the table to two points by suffering the same scoreline at Tottenham.
But how does that impact how the season is predicted to finish?
Mikel Arteta will breathe a sigh of relief as his side are still expected to win the Premier League for the first time since 2004 come the end of May.
The number-crunching BETSiE is convinced the defeat at Everton is just a blip – and the Gunners will march on to lift the trophy.
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The Betting Expert supercomputer simulated the remainder of the season a whopping 100,000 times, taking into account results so far this season, pre-season expectations and xG for and against for all 20 clubs.
And the results churned out will make happy reading for Arsenal fans.
The figures project the Gunners to end the season with 27.1 wins, 5.6 draws and 5.3 defeats – with a grand total of 86.9 points.
And that would see Arteta’s men finish exactly seven clear of rivals Manchester City on 79.9 – with 24.5 wins, 6.5 draws and 7.1 defeats.
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Manchester United claim third on 73 points with Newcastle snatching the fourth and final Champions League spot on 71.
There is then a six-point gap back to Tottenham in fifth.
And it is Brighton who join Spurs in the Europa League on an impressive 63.1 points while Brentford (57.7) pip strugglers Liverpool (57.6) and Chelsea (51.9) to the Europa Conference League spot.
At the other end of the table, the supercomputer results do not bode well for Bournemouth who are expected to finish on a measly total of 30.4 points.
Joining them in the Championship next year will be Southampton (33.7).
And despite his early heroics against Arsenal, Dyche looks on course to fall short in his bid for survival.
Everton are expected to reach 35.3 but that is not enough as Wolves (38.4), Nottingham Forest (40.4), Leicester (40.8) and Leeds (40.9) stay up.
That leaves Fulham to lead the mid-table cluster ahead of Aston Villa, West Ham and Crystal Palace.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
