All six focus clubs’ matchweek 2 fixtures are done, so as usual, here’s a check of how the pre-match predictions actually held up.
Six predictions, five correct
| Fixture | Pre-match pick | Actual score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Palace vs Man City | City to win comfortably | Palace 1-4 City | ✅ |
| Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest | Liverpool to win | Liverpool 2-2 Forest | ❌ |
| Tottenham vs Newcastle | Newcastle have a shot at points | Spurs 0-2 Newcastle | ✅ |
| Chelsea vs Brighton | Chelsea to edge it | Chelsea 4-3 Brighton | ✅ |
| Man United vs Ipswich | United shouldn’t have trouble winning | United 5-2 Ipswich | ✅ |
| Aston Villa vs Arsenal | Arsenal to cruise | Villa 0-1 Arsenal | ✅ |
Five of the six predictions got the outcome right — an 83.3% hit rate.
The five hits: the logic held up
Crystal Palace vs City was picked as a comfortable City win, and it was exactly that — a Cherki brace, a Haaland brace, and an own goal from Donnarumma made it 4-1 with little drama, matching the pre-match read almost exactly. Tottenham vs Newcastle played out the same way: the pre-match note that Spurs’ keeper-defense communication issues wouldn’t be fixed in a week proved right — Spurs opened the season with two straight losses on an aggregate scoreline of 0-5, while Newcastle picked up the win off two second-half goals.
Chelsea vs Brighton is the standout — not just the result but the exact shape of it. The pick was Chelsea to “edge it,” and that’s precisely what happened: a seven-goal thriller settled by a single goal, matching the pre-match read that Chelsea’s home defense would hold up without it being comfortable. Man United vs Ipswich landed just as cleanly, with a Bruno Fernandes hat-trick powering a 5-2 win — confirming the pre-match line that United shouldn’t struggle against a side in the bottom half of the table.
Aston Villa vs Arsenal got the winner right, but “cruise” oversold it — the actual scoreline was a tight 1-0, decided by a single Saka goal, a much closer match than the pre-match framing suggested. Right on outcome, a bit too optimistic on how the match would actually play out.
The one miss: Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest
The pre-match pick was Liverpool to fix their defensive transition issues and get the win, but instead they were held to a second straight draw — Forest went ahead through Ndoye, Isak leveled it, a Gibbs-White penalty put Forest back in front, and it took a stoppage-time equalizer from debutant substitute defender Muñoz to salvage the point. What this really exposed is the same problem as before: Liverpool’s gaps in defensive transitions and set-piece defending weren’t fixed in a week the way the pre-match pick assumed — that call was simply wrong.