The Premier League season is not far away and the best thing to do to prepare is this: Predict the season on Football Manager 2022!
The Sports Interactive hit is one of the greatest management simulations of all time, and offers players the chance to do whatever they want in the footballing world.
So, as a result, we’ve taken the required steps to accurately predict the 2022/23 season.
With thanks to FMInside.Net’s Transfer Update, which has tracked all of the transfers and contract extensions up to July 20th, and also recorded all of the promotions and relegations, we’ve been able to make this the most realistic simulation possible.
It means Erling Haaland is at Manchester City, Darwin Nunez is at Liverpool, Robert Lewandowski is at Barcelona and Raheem Sterling is at Chelsea.
Let’s take a look at exactly what went down.
Predicting the 2022/23 season on Football Manager 22
Who won the Premier League?
Manchester City. Helped by Haaland’s ridiculous goalscoring form, City ended the season with 87 points, four points clear of second-placed Liverpool.
They lost just five games all season – twice to Wolves, twice to Liverpool and once to Manchester United.
Liverpool were second, four points further back, and they also lost five games through the season; they were beaten by Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, United, Chelsea and West Ham.
Chelsea and Manchester United made up the rest of the top four, with Arsenal and Spurs in fifth and sixth.
Who got relegated?
Crystal Palace, Brentford, and Fulham.
Fulham only won five games all season – beating Bournemouth, Brentford, Southampton, Wolves and Arsenal, and ended the season with 23 points.
Brentford took 30 points, while Palace, shockingly, only took 31.
It means both Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth both avoided dropping down into the Championship.
Who got promoted?
Sheffield United, Burnley, and Hull City.
The Blades and Burnley were in a pulsating title battle, and the former won out, by a point, taking 90 to Burnley’s 89.
Hull finished third and won promotion via the play-offs.
It means that both Norwich City and Watford, who were relegated in real life last season, missed out on an immediate return.
By comparison, Wigan Athletic, Huddersfield Town, and Rotherham were relegated.
Who won everything else?
Tottenham ended their trophy drought by winning the FA Cup, beating Liverpool 2-0 in the final.
Liverpool, by comparison, won the Carabao Cup, beating Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley.
Juventus won the Champions League, managing to beat Real Madrid in the final, while the Europa League was won by Manchester United, beating Arsenal in the final.
Who finished as Premier League top scorer?
Haaland.
He was sensational for the Cityzens, and scored 20 goals in the Premier League to win the Golden Boot. Second to him in the running was Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling, while Mohamed Salah rounded out the top three.
Who won the Ballon d’Or?
This one comes as a surprise. It’s Inter Milan’s Nicolo Barella. The Italy international picked up an average rating of 7.53, as he scored six goals and laid on 11 assists.
In second place was Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, with Kevin De Bruyne in third.
Who won Europe’s top leagues?
In Spain, it was another title race between Real Madrid and Barcelona, which Real won. They took 84 points in total and finished five ahead of Barca.
The Bundesliga was shockingly won by Bayern Munich again. They finished 14 points clear of second-placed RB Leipzig.
AC Milan won Serie A, finishing a point clear of Inter Milan, with Juventus in third.
Ligue 1 was won by an irrepressible PSG, who took 100 points from 38 games and only lost twice. FC Nantes had a terrific season and finished second with 69 points.
What about the World Cup?
Ah yes, there’s a World Cup this season, isn’t there? How could we forget?
We do have to say here that we couldn’t edit the calendar to include the 2022 World Cup, because the season we’ve used in the game is technically the 2021/22 campaign.
As a result, the World Cup couldn’t be simulated. We bet England won it, though.
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