Wolves to get Champions League football? Relegation decided by goal difference? Predicting the end of the Premier League season

As we enter the final few round of the English Premier League season, things are beginning to get interesting as the battle for Europe and the relegation scrap approaches its final stages.

From a Portuguese perspective, though, there’s no doubt as to what the main source of interest will be. Wolverhampton Wanderers. Nuno and his healthy Portuguese contingent are flying high in the Premier League - not that anyone should be surprised.

However, having capitalised on disappointing seasons from Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United, the door has opened for Wolves to not only qualify for the Europa League for the second year running, but to qualify for the ultimate club competition Europe has to offer - the UEFA Champions League.

With Wolves currently sitting 6th, they are in a very healthy position, and would be disappointed to miss out on European football altogether after such a stellar campaign. That does remain a realistic possibility, though, with Wolves only 4 points above 8th-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

Nevertheless, Wolves fans will surely be looking upwards, rather than over their shoulder, as the end of the season approaches - and looking at their very decent run-in, you can certainly forgive them for doing so, with Champions League football potentially in touching distance, a thought that most, if not all, non-Wolves fans would have deemed entirely impossible at the start of the season.

They are 5 points short of 4th-placed Chelsea currently, with just 8 games to go. It’s a pretty healthy advantage for the London side, but they can be caught by the West Midlands outfit, with Chelsea boasting a league schedule that, at least on paper, looks more challenging than that of Wolves.

What gives Wolves an even larger chance of getting Champions League football, though, is that Manchester City are potentially poised to be banned from next season’s Champions League. As it stands, they are expected to be blocked from taking part in all European football over the next two seasons - though it is pending an appeal, which is currently underway and under review.

Nevertheless, should that appeal fall flat and their ban from the Champions League - and Europa League - is upheld, a 5th place finish for Wolves will provide an automatic Champions League group stage spot - and currently, they are only behind current 5th place occupants Manchester United on goal difference. This final run-in should be spectacular.

Predicting the rest of the Premier League football

If nothing else, one thing this Premier League season has taught us is that it is extraordinarily challenging to predict what is actually going to happen; with Arsenal and Tottenham almost languishing in mid-table obscurity and Sheffield United potentially pushing for a Champions League place, this season, perhaps more so than any other in recent history (with exception, perhaps, to the Leicester City miracle of 2015-16), is proving that you have to expect the unexpected.

With that in mind, when taking on the task of making predictions, you have to be very conscious of the fact that there will be surprises along the way - the favourites do not, and will not, win every match between now and the end of the season. And so we have attempted to take that surprise factor into account and anticipate potential stumbling blocks for the sides pushing for European football here.

In any case, to assess what could come of the 2019-20 season, the results of each of the remaining matches have been predicted to produce a full final table, from 1st to 20th. And, though it’s almost certainly a highly inaccurate depiction of what is actually to come in the English Premier League, it does make for interesting reading.

We won't go into every result single result predicted here, perhaps that’s something for another time, but we will focus exclusively on the remaining matches of the three sides in the hunt for a Champions League place - Chelsea, Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Here are the full remaining schedules for each of the three Champions League contenders:

Looking at these fixtures, there’s every reason for Wolves fans to be quietly confident that a Champions League spot is within reach, however extraordinary that may sound. Though they boast a challenging run-in, still having to face Arsenal, Sheffield United, Everton and Chelsea, among others, we must consider the fact that Wolves have previously proven that they are a team that often pull off excellent results against the supposed stronger sides, and actually struggle more against the lower league outfits.

Additionally, at least on paper, you could definitely make the case that Chelsea’s run-in is even harder than that of Wolves, having to still face both Liverpool and Manchester City, in addition to Sheffield United and London rivals West Ham United, both of which will be away trips. Though playing away means far less than it would ordinarily, with no fans allowed to attendfixtures for the foreseeable future, it is still a factor that should be taken into consideration.

The bad news for Wolves? Without question Manchester United have the easiest final eight games. That said, there are still several potential stumbling blocks for them, and it seems incredibly unlikely that they will go unbeaten between now and the end of the season. If they did, that would represent a 14-match unbeaten run in the Premier League to close the campaign, while their previous longest spell without a loss this season was just 6 games (which included 3 draws). That would over double their best unbeaten run for the season, which seems implausible.

Therefore, though Manchester United are in excellent form, have a very favourable run-in and look revitalised with the addition of Portuguese star Bruno Fernandes in their midfield, you have to anticipate one or two surprise slip-ups between now and the end of the season for the Red Devils.

Meanwhile, Wolves are a side that simply do not lose all that many games at all; while Chelsea have lost 9 in the PL this campaign, Man Utd 8, Wolves have been defeated just the 6 times in the league this season; only Liverpool (one) have lost fewer Premier League games over the course of 2019-20. And to be honest, unlike with Manchester United, it is quite conceivable that Wolves could potentially be able to remain unbeaten over the next 8 matches. It’ll be incredibly difficult, but if they want to secure a Champions League spot, it may well be required.

The issue for Wolves this season has been more about converting draws into wins; while boasting the stand-alone 2nd fewest losses this season, they have also played out the most draws this campaign - 13 to be precise, meaning they have tied more league games than they have actually won over the 2019-20 season. So don’t be surprised if Wolves suffer 3 or 4 draws in their final 8 games, even if they do remain incredibly hard to beat.

Here is a rundown of how we predict each of the three teams’ seasons will finish:

Chelsea to struggle to convert draws into wins? Manchester United to slip up against Aston Villa? Wolves to go unbeaten? It’s a somewhat optimistic look of how the season could end - but there’s logic to it. We all know that Wolves rarely slip up against the top sides, while they are now beginning to find ways to defeat the sides lower in the table too. There’s encouraging signs that Wolves can go on a great run.

Manchester United, meanwhile, will be expecting a near-perfect run of their own, but with Aston Villa in desperate need of points and Manchester United proving this season that they can beat one of the big guns one week and then lose a game they’re expected to win the next, Villa could prove a real stumbling block.

The fact is, though, it doesn’t matter who beats United, just that they do have one more loss between now and the season’s end - and with the inconsistency Solskjaer’s side have shown this campaign, it could come against pretty much any of the sides they have coming up.

Chelsea’s predicted run would then be pretty disastrous for Frank Lampard’s side. 3 wins in 8, 13 points from a possible 24. It would really open the door for Wolves and United if they can put on an excellent run between now and the end of the season.

Is it realistic to expect Chelsea to drop so many points? In a word, yes. If you look over their most recent 8 games, for example, they’ve actually only picked up 12 points, one point fewer than the tally we’ve predicted them to get over their final 8 games. By contrast, Wolves have picked up 15 points across their most recent 8 games, so the precedent is set for Wolves to close the gap to Lampard’s sign.

An away trip to West Ham in a London derby, against a side desperate for points, will be incredibly tough to win, while you can fully expect them to drop points to Liverpool, Man City and Sheffield Utd too. It could, therefore, all come down to that last match with Wolves - and what an epic clash that would be if that were the case.

Here’s the predicted table with just one league game remaining (ie. after very club has played 37 matches):

It could not be closer. Just one point separating Chelsea, Wolves and Man Utd with just one game to go. And with Chelsea hosting Wolves and Man Utd facing a daunting trip to Leicester, it would make for the most extraordinary finish.

Should both matches end in a draw - which is perfectly conceivable, here’s how the final table could look:

Record-breaking Liverpool, a relegation battle decided on goal difference - but most important of all, Wolves squeezing into the 2020-21 Champions League. In this parallel universe, at least, it’ll be an epic season for Nuno’s side and his faithful supporters.

If you want to have a go at predicting the remainder of the Premier League season, you can use this excellent website, worldfootball.net - follow this link to have a go at predicting how you think the remainder of the season will go and share your final table with @Aljeeves on Twitter! Let’s see who’s predictions are more accurate come the end of the season!