In what looks like being a close-fought weekend of Premier League action, SportsLab football fans predict five home wins, two draws and three away wins. Stoke are the side most expected to win, with 74% of SportsLab predictors expecting them to beat West Brom at the Britannia. 72% tip Liverpool, who hope to leave their stuttering home form behind them as they visit Bolton, to beat their struggling hosts, making them the only other side to receive backing from more than two-thirds of fans of the fans who responded to our poll this week.
SportsLab fans also narrowly predict victories for both Manchester clubs: 46% expect City to beat high-flying Tottenham (with 40% foreseeing a draw), and 43% expect United to return from their trip to the Emirates with three points (while 36% predict a stalemate). Sunderland’s game against Swansea also looks finely-balanced: 49% believe Martin O’Neill’s side will pick up the points but 36% think the spoils will be shared.
The derby between Wolves and Aston Villa has the majority of SportsLab fans predicting a draw – although 24% expect a home win and 24% tip the away side to triumph. Newcastle’s trip to Fulham will also end in a stalemate, reckon 48%. Everton are expected to beat Blackburn, QPR are tipped to beat Wigan, and 58% predict a Chelsea win when they visit Norwich.
Last week’s predictions and results are below – SportsLab fans correctly forecast five of the ten matches, giving them a higher level of accuracy than that of many established pundits. Arsenal’s defeat to Swansea made the headlines, and was predicted by only 6% of SportsLab fans, but it was by no means the only shock result: only 7% thought Wolves would draw with Tottenham, while nearly three quarters of SportsLab fans had expected Liverpool to beat Stoke.
Labs Method statement
YouGovLabs research is anecdotal, with polls being open to all panellists who wish to take part. In contrast to YouGov’s Public Opinion polling, YouGovLabs seeks to understand the attitudes of specific subsets of people: sports fans tell us how they feel about sports and music fans tell us how they feel about music, for example. YouGovLabs results are unweighted, and figures reported do not reflect the attitudes of the population as a whole.
