The first weekend of the 2026\/27 Premier League season has already prompted the familiar rush to judge the race, and Arsenal\u2019s opening win has placed them at the head of Opta\u2019s latest projection.<\/p>\n
Arsenal began the campaign as they ended the last one, with a comfortable victory, and the supercomputer now expects them to finish first on 74.80 points. That gives the Gunners a 45.18% chance of retaining the title, with Opta also suggesting they could become champions for the first time in 92 years. Manchester City are forecast to stay close but still finish second on 68.44 points, while Liverpool complete the top three on 61.42.<\/p>\n
Chelsea\u2019s 3-2 win over Fulham in Xabi Alonso\u2019s first league match in charge has lifted them into fourth place in the model, on 58.48 points. Manchester United, after their shock defeat to Hull City, have slipped to fifth on 55.34 points. Brighton & Hove Albion are also sitting strongly in sixth, just behind United on 55.21.<\/p>\n
Opta\u2019s picture for Champions League qualification continues beyond that, with Newcastle, Aston Villa, Brentford and Everton occupying the next places in the top 10. The model gives five of the league\u2019s \u2018Big Six\u2019 a place in the top five, reflecting the expectation that the battle for the 2027-28 Champions League spots will again be tight.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the table, the supercomputer sees Tottenham Hotspur avoiding another collapse by finishing 12th, despite their opening-day loss to Brentford. Crystal Palace are projected 14th, while newly-promoted Ipswich Town are 15th and Nottingham Forest 16th. Coventry City, Hull City, Fulham and Sunderland are forecast to occupy the relegation places, with Hull\u2019s opening win over Manchester United not enough to alter their long-term outlook.<\/p>\n
It is, as ever, only one weekend in. But Opta\u2019s early read is clear: Arsenal lead the way, City remain close, and the pack behind them is already beginning to take shape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Opta\u2019s early table has Arsenal first, City second and United sliding after a shock opening defeat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,172],"tags":[1836,1162,1981],"class_list":["post-18777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics-stats","category-epl","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-analytics","tag-gameweek-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}