Rio Ferdinand makes five U-turns during Premier League prediction
The Premier League is set to return after a three-month hiatus on Friday evening, with reigning champions Liverpool hosting Bournemouth at Anfield. Arne Slot's team will be aiming for a strong start following their dominant title win last season, while Andoni Iraola's Cherries will be hoping to cause an upset after narrowly missing out on European competition.
Liverpool are the favourites to win consecutive titles, and that's exactly what Ferdinand believes they'll do. He predicts Arsenal will finish second, followed by Manchester City and Chelsea completing the top four.
At the other end of the table he has the three promoted sides - Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland all dropping. But in between that, the selections get a little funky.
Ferdinand took to TikTok ahead of the new season to forecast where every side would finish, and did so using a filter that randomly selected a team. He would then place sides on a blank table continuously until complete, leaving room for some blunders.
In total, the former England defender ended up immediately changing his mind on five different teams - incorrectly putting Tottenham ahead of Newcastle in fifth and placing Crystal Palace, Brighton and Aston Villa both in the lower half of the table.
"[Wolves] I'm gonna go 16th. [Nottingham] Forest, because they're in Europe, I'm gonna put them down a little bit this season...I'm gonna go ninth. Everton, I'll go middle of the road somewhere, 13th," began Ferdinand.
"Fulham 10th. Arsenal, No. 2. Burnley just down [18th]. Chelsea fourth and Man City, I'm gonna go third, still on a hangover. I'm gonna go eighth for West Ham. Arne Slot won the Premier League in his first season as Liverpool manager (Image: Getty)
"Newcastle, now I'm gonna go sixth. Man United seventh, but could be sixth United. Brentford, 17th, lost some good players, man, lost their manager too."
Ferdinand then realised he made an error when choosing his final league table through the randomised format, as he declared: "What am I thinking, Brighton should be eighth, but got to go 11th now.
"Liverpool, first, they're gonna win it, unfortunately. Bournemouth 12th. Sunderland, bottom [20th], down. Oh, Spurs, Spurs aren't finishing fifth. Got to put them fifth, but Newcastle should be above Spurs.
"Oh, [Aston] Villa! Another one I've missed. Villa are 14th," he laughed, suggesting he should have put them much higher. "[Crystal] Palace are 15th as well. Leeds, my old team, is 19th, unfortunately.
"I want Leeds to stay up, but I don't think they're capable. All three teams that have come up will go down. I've messed up. You know who I'm confident is gonna finish higher than I've said here.
"Palace will finish higher than 15th. Villa will 100 percent finish higher than fourth and Brighton will finish higher than 11th. All the others are around about where they should be, Spurs are too high actually."
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