EPL: Leicester City is only 10 points away from the title, experts say
By Edgar Acero
An UK-based analytics company used an algorithm to find out how many points would be needed to win this year’s EPL. Leicester City is just 10 away from the magic number.
Coming into the 2015-16 season, the top English Premier League clubs knew they needed at least 80 points in order to win the title. After all, that’s the minimum amount that has been required to claim the coveted championship over the past 10 seasons.
Still, in what has been one of the most unusual Premier League editions in history, the 80-point mark simply doesn’t apply. According to Decision Technology, a sports analytics company from the UK, unexpected EPL leaders Leicester City will just need 76 points to successfully cap what has been a legendary run in 2015-16.
First reported by the official Premier League website, the tech company provided different simulations of the remaining EPL games into an algorithm that revealed the magic number. The algorithm was able to deduce the most likely results from the remaining games, from which a “final table [was] built from the average number of points, goals scored, goals conceded, wins, draws and losses calculated.”
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76 points is certainly good news for Leicester City, who surprised the soccer world this season with a consistent run that has them leading the league with 66 points, five more than second-place Tottenham. With 21 points in play from their remaining seven games, the Foxes would need only 10 to do the unthinkable: have an underdog win the English Premier League title.
If Decision Technology’s system is accurate and 76 is indeed the magic number to win the title, it would mean that — mathematically speaking at least — only Spurs and third-place Arsenal would also be in the running for the title as Manchester City has no chance to reach 76 points even if they win their remaining eight games.
Tottenham would need another 15 points out of a possible 21 from their last seven games in order to get to 76 and spoil Leicester’s run. Meanwhile, Arsenal has an almost-impossible task as they’d have to get 21 out of 24 possible points in their last eight games, which include visits to West Ham and Manchester City.
Besides being highly unusual, the 2015-16 season has also proven to be one of the most competitive ones in recent history as the 76 point-mark indicates. 76 points would not have been enough to be in the top four two seasons ago, when four-place Arsenal recorded 79 and champions Manchester City won with 86.
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Decision Technology also predicted that in order to qualify to Champions League next season, EPL clubs must reach at least 67 points. That prediction leaves current champions Chelsea out of the running for a top four spot (10th place – 41 points, eight games remaining), but further confirms what will be a wild race for Liverpool, who would need to win at least eight of their last nine games to pass the 67-point mark and fight for a top four spot.