Who will win the 2022/23 Premier League title? Who will qualify for the Champions League? Who will crash back down to the Championship?

These are the questions on the lips of football fans around the world as they rub their hands together in anticipation of the return of one of the most entertaining competitions in all of sport.

While, sure, the Premier League might not actually be as unpredictable as we like to make it out to be sometimes, there's no denying that trying to predict the final table at the start of each season is still pretty darn impossible.

Premier League predictions

If you've never challenged your mates to forecast how the table will look in May before a ball's even been kicked, then you really are missing out because you either look like the second coming of Nostradamus or get to laugh at how hilariously wrong you were after all.

As such, try as we all might to look into our crystal ball and picture how the Premier League table will end up looking, we've all got to hold our hands up and say that there are methods better qualified to complete the task.

And no, we're not talking about a Z-list pundit coming up with their top four prediction off the cuff, but rather the mathematical models out there that try their best at quantifying the beautiful game.

Data analysts on 2022/23 Premier League

Of which, few come better than the statistical modelling over at FiveThirtyEight, which has become something of a touchstone for fans wanting to assess the chances of certain clubs achieving certain things.

Whether you want to see Fulham's percentage chance of dodging the drop or Tottenham Hotspur's perceived hopes of winning the league, then their 'Club Soccer Predictions' section really is fascinating to flit through.

And this week, FiveThirtyEight officially published their Premier League modelling for the 2022/23 season with the average points and goal difference of every club across simulated seasons calculated to give a prediction for how the table might finish up.

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You can learn more about how their method works here, but rest assured that it's up there with the most thorough analyses available with each league's season played out no less than 20,000 times.

It's not a perfect method, no statistical attempt at predicting football ever is, but it's nevertheless another intriguing lens through which we can try and look forward to see how the upcoming season might play out.

Average simulated season

So, without further ado, be sure to check out the average simulated Premier League season conjured up by the data analysts to get a new perspective on how things might line up in May 2023.

20. Nottingham Forest - 35 points

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19. Bournemouth - 36 points

18. Fulham - 36 points

17. Southampton - 40 points

16. Leeds United - 41 points

15. Everton - 42 points

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14. Wolverhampton Wanderers - 46 points

13. Newcastle United - 47 points

12. Brentford - 48 points

11. Crystal Palace - 50 points

10. West Ham United - 50 points

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9. Leicester City - 51 points

8. Brighton & Hove Albion - 54 points

7. Aston Villa - 54 points

6. Manchester United - 57 points

5. Arsenal - 61 points

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4. Tottenham Hotspur - 66 points

3. Chelsea - 72 points

2. Liverpool - 80 points

1. Manchester City - 85 points

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Damning for Man Utd and Newcastle

Very interesting. There will be some very disappointed Newcastle and Manchester United fans out there, for sure.

While it's perhaps not earth-shattering that City have been tipped to win the league yet again and it's a little shoulder-shrugging that every promoted side has been predicted to go down, there are still some very eye-catching results.

Newcastle fans would be absolutely raging with a 13th-place finish that would actually see them amass fewer points than they did last year despite all the pre-takeover woes that came under Steve Bruce.

The same goes for United with their average simulated season slapping them with 57 points, which means Erik ten Hag would oversee the club's worst ever Premier League campaign. Yikes.

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Elsewhere, Steven Gerrard would clearly be doing backflips at the prospect of what would surely be the highest finish that Villa could possibly ask for, while Graham Potter's stock would continue to soar through the ceiling with yet another fabulous placement.

It's hard to imagine Jesse Marsch and Frank Lampard lasting long in their posts if they're once again flailing around the relegation zone and Brentford would well and truly have dodged second-season-syndrome if they finish as highly as 12th.

Now, all that said, these statistical models - no matter how thorough, and FiveThirtyEight are certainly thorough - should always be taken with a pinch of salt because no one equation could ever truly figure football out.

But before you come gunning for the data analysts, be sure to have a crack at predicting the final Premier League table yourself and see who emerges victorious when May rolls around.