Leeds approached the weekend with their top-flight destiny in the hands of others by sitting third-bottom and a point behind fourth-bottom Everton with just two games left. It meant that even six points from United’s last two games would not have been enough for survival in the event of relegation rivals Everton and Nottingham Forest ending the campaign with maximum hauls.
Everton, though, dropped two points in Saturday afternoon’s clash at Wolves which ended in a 1-1 draw and only after a 99th-minute equaliser from Toffees defender Yerry Mina in response to Hwang Hee-Chan’s opener. Fifth-bottom Forest then ensured their top-flight survival with a 1-0 win at home to Arsenal in Saturday’s teatime game which also handed Manchester City the title.
But Leeds now know that six points from their final two games of the season through this afternoon’s clash at a now mathematically safe West Ham side and at home to Tottenham Hotspur next weekend would keep them up, regardless of how sole remaining relegation rivals Everton and second-bottom Leicester City fare.
After every game, data experts at FiveThirtyEight crunch the numbers and use their Forecasts and Soccer Power Index (SPI) ratings to predict each round of matches and how the final Premier League standings will present themselves.
Leeds are given a 32 per cent chance of winning at West Ham for whom a home victory is rated a probability of 45 per cent with 24 per cent about the draw. As far as the final table goes, this is how FiveThirtyEight’s super computer now has it panning out.
1. 1st - Manchester City (already crowned champions)
Predicted points tally: 91. Photo: LINDSEY PARNABY
