A look back on last summer's predictions as Brighton proved the majority wrong

Brighton proved the pundits, bookies and many journalists wrong by staying in the Premier League.

The Seagulls were heavily tipped - with Huddersfield - to be relegated in pre-season predictions last summer.

The Brighton & Hove Independent has now looked back at those predictions and Albion were tipped to go down by 71 out of 100 experts.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Only Huddersfield (77) were predicted to go down by more people, while Burnley (54) were the next highest backed to go down.

Of the 100 pre-season predictions from Sky Sports, BT Sport, FourFourTwo and several national publications, no one correctly predicted the three teams to be relegated from the Premier League (Stoke, West Brom and Swansea).

Only two people correctly predicted two of the teams to be relegated (Mike Walters of the Mirror and Craig Hope of the Daily Mail) and 37 correctly named one of the three sides, which left 61 completely wrong.

Sky Sports' pundits Paul Merson, Phil Thompson, Matt Le Tissier and Charlie Nicholas all thought the Seagulls would make an immediate return to the Championship, as did BT Sport's Michael Owen and BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but here are the predictions from last summer of who will be relegated.

Sky Sports

Paul Merson: Watford, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Phil Thompson: Brighton, Huddersfield, Burnley.

Matt Le Tissier: Huddersfield, Brighton, Watford.

Charlie Nicolas: Newcastle, Brighton, Watford.

BT Sport

Michael Owen: Huddersfield, Brighton, Watford.

FourFourTwo

Watford, Burnley, Huddersfield.

The Independent

Miguel Delaney: Huddersfield, Brighton, Burnley.

Ben Burrows: Brighton, Huddersfield, Newcastle.

Jack Pitt-Brooke: Huddersfield, Swansea, Brighton.

Ed Malyon: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Mark Critchley: Stoke, Burnley, Huddersfield.

Jack Austin: Huddersfield, Brighton, Burnley.

Samuel Lovett: Huddersfield, Newcastle, Swansea.

Jack de Menezes: Huddersfield, Brighton, Swansea.

Evan Bartlett: Brighton, Huddersfield, Burnley.

Luke Brown: Newcastle, Burnley, Huddersfield.

Daily Mail

Oliver Holt: Huddersfield, Newcastle, Southampton.

Marr Barlow: Brighton, Swansea, Crystal Palace.

Nick Harris: Stoke, Burnley, West Ham.

Mike Keegan: Swansea, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Rob Draper: Huddersfield, Brighton, Crystal Palace.

Sami Mokbel: Brighton, Swansea, Huddersfield.

Joe Bernstein: Huddersfield, Burnley, Brighton.

Craig Hope: Swansea, Stoke, Watford.

Chris Wheeler: Huddersfield, Brighton, Swansea.

Jack Gaughan: Burnley, Huddersfield, Brighton.

Adam Crafton: Huddersfield, Swansea, Brighton.

Laurie Whitwell: Brighton, Swansea, Newcastle.

Kieran Gill: Swansea, Huddersfield, Burnley.

Sam Cunningham: Huddersfield, Brighton, Watford.

Oliver Todd: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

ESPN

Mark Ogden: Huddersfield, Southampton, Brighton.

Iain Macintosh: Watford, Huddersfield, Brighton.

Nick Miller: Burnley, Brighton, Swansea.

Tony Evans: Watford, Swansea, Burnley.

John Brewin: Brighton, Burnley, Swansea.

Nick Ames: Swansea, Brighton, Burnley.

Michael Cox: Huddersfield, Watford, Stoke.

Richard Jolly: Brighton, Burnley, Huddersfield.

Adam Hurrey: Huddersfield, Burnley, Swansea.

Raphael Honigstein: West Ham, Huddersfield, Crystal Palace.

Julien Laurens: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

James Horncastle: Huddersfield, Swansea, Burnley.

Mattias Karen: Huddersfield, Burnley, Brighton.

Jonathan Smith: Huddersfield, Burnley, Brighton.

Rob Dawson: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Liam Twomey: Brighton, Huddersfield, Burnley.

Glenn Price: Burnley, Brighton, West Ham.

Dan Kilpatrick: West Ham, Burnley, Brighton.

Goal.com

Peter Staunton: Swansea, Newcastle, Crystal Palace.

Chris Wheatley: Burnley, Watford, Swansea.

Nizaar Kinsella: Brighton, Newcastle, Huddersfield.

Sam Lee: Brighton, Burnley, Watford.

Paul Macdonald: Watford, Burnley, Huddersfield.

Mark Buckingham: Huddersfield, Burnley, Stoke.

Carlo Carganese: Burnley, Swansea, Huddersfield.

Metro

James Goldman: Newcastle, Huddersfield, Brighton.

Coral Barry: Brighton, Swansea, Huddersfield.

Alex Hudson: Brighton, Burnley, Huddersfield.

Simon Rice: Brighton, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace.

George Bellshaw: Burnley, Huddersfield, Brighton.

Mark Brus: Watford, Brighton, Swansea.

Ewan Roberts: Swansea, Huddersfield, Brighton.

BBC

Phil McNulty: Watford, Huddersfield, Brighton.

Mirror

Andy Dunn: Stoke, Newcastle, Huddersfield.

John Cross: Huddersfield, Brighton, Swansea.

Darren Lewis: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Adrian Kajumba: Burnley, Huddersfield, Brighton.

Neil McLeman: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Mike Walters: Burnley, Stoke, Swansea.

James Nursey: West Brom, Burnley, Huddersfield.

David McDonnell: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

David Maddock: Newcastle, Swansea, Huddersfield.

Simon Bird: Newcastle, Brighton, Huddersfield.

The Sun

Shaun Custis: Stoke, Watford, Huddersfield.

Martin Lipton: Burnley, Watford, Huddersfield.

Neil Ashton: Newcastle, Burnley, Brighton.

Dave Kidd: Watford, Huddersfield, Burnley.

Charlie Wyett: Watford, Stoke, Huddersfield.

Mike McGrath: Brighton, Burnley, Huddersfield.

Martin Blackburn: Swansea, Huddersfield, Brighton.

Dan King: Brighton, Watford, Huddersfield.

David Coverdale: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Tom Barclay: Brighton, Huddersfield, Swansea.

Eurosport

Alex Chick: Leicester, Burnley, Brighton.

Tom Adams: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Tom Bennett: West Ham, Watford, Brighton.

Pete Burton: Crystal Palace, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Dan Quarrell: Burnley, Leicester, Brighton.

Marcus Foley: Crystal Palace, Leicester, Stoke.

Kevin Coulson: Brighton, Burnley, Huddersfield.

Des Kane: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Tim Caple: Huddersfield, Watford, Brighton.

Set Pieces

Matt Stranger: Newcastle, Swansea, Brighton.

Daniel Storey: Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield.

Daily Star

Steve Millar: Huddersfield, Brighton, Watford.

Harry Pratt: Huddersfield, Brighton, Burnley.

Tony Stenson: Swansea, Huddersfield, Watford.

Paul Hetherington: Burnley, Huddersfield, Brighton.