Two weeks ago, a survey/poll from fivethirtyeight.com was being treated as the last word on Scottish football.
Fed data from the SPFL matches played so far it was able to predict the outcome of the remaining matches. A fortnight ago with a two-point gap at the top of the table the title was bound for Ibrox! Celtic’s bid for nine-in-a-row was over, the Gerrard Revolution had delivered.
On October 9 the Daily Record informed its army of readers:
Rangers are set to beat Celtic to the Premiership while St Mirren will be relegated and Kilmarnock will finish third. That is according to Five Thirty Eight- a website that uses a specific formula to determine the outcome for sporting events.
Neil Lennon’s men are on course for nine league titles on the spin, but according to this set of results, the trophy will be in the hands of their city rivals come May. If it pans out that way, it will be one of the most dramatic title races in years. Rangers would pip the Parkhead outfit by just three points with the Light Blues finishing on 92 points compared to Celtic’s 89.
Today the ‘supercomputer’ doesn’t appear to be in much demand. Constantly updating results, they provide a rolling service which has noticed that at the weekend Celtic picked up full points while their city rivals returned from Tynecastle with just one point.
Now Five Thirty Eight are predicting that the title will remain at Parkhead with the hoops edging it out by 91 points to 90.
Of course, the only table that matters is the one at the end of June but with just nine results to go on the early season predictions can be very volatile.
On Sunday Celtic play their sixth away game from the opening ten fixtures with the visit to Pittodrie following on from trips to Ibrox and Fir Park, against the teams currently sitting second, third and fourth in the table.
Ibrox on Sunday will host it’s sixth home match with Celtic, Aberdeen and Motherwell among the first visitors.
By the time of the Glasgow derby on December 29 both sides will have played very similar fixtures, it remains to be seen whether the ‘supercomputer’ will be getting quoted going into the new year.
CLICK HERE for Five Thirty Eight supercomputer prediction