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Rio Ferdinand has tipped Liverpool to retain its Premier League title this season, despite admitting to a few errors in his predictions. The Manchester United legend's forecast comes as the top-flight gears up for its return after a three-month hiatus, with reigning champions Liverpool set to host Bournemouth at Anfield on Friday.
Arne Slot's side will be aiming for a strong start following their dominant title win last season, while Andoni Iraola's Cherries will be hoping to cause an upset after narrowly missing out on European competition last term.
Liverpool is favorite to secure back-to-back titles, a sentiment echoed by Red Devils icon Ferdinand. He predicts Arsenal will finish second, followed by Manchester City and Chelsea completing the top four.
At the bottom of the table, Ferdinand believes the three promoted sides - Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland - will all face relegation. However, his predictions become somewhat unconventional from there.
Ahead of the new season, Ferdinand took to TikTok to predict where each team would finish, using a filter that randomly selected a team. He then placed teams on a blank table until it was complete, leading to some surprising results.
In total, the former England defender changed his mind about the placement of five teams immediately after making his initial predictions. Notably, he incorrectly placed Tottenham ahead of Newcastle in fifth place and positioned Crystal Palace, Brighton and Aston Villa in the lower half of the table.
"[Wolves] I'm gonna go 16th. [Nottingham] Forest, because they're in Europe, I'm gonna put them down a little bit this season...I'm gonna go ninth. Everton, I'll go middle of the road somewhere, 13th," began Ferdinand.
"Fulham 10th. Arsenal, No. 2. Burnley just down [18th]. Chelsea fourth and Man City, I'm gonna go third, still on a hangover. I'm gonna go eighth for West Ham.
"Newcastle, now I'm gonna go sixth. Man United seventh, but could be sixth United. Brentford, 17th, lost some good players, man, lost their manager too."
Ferdinand then realized he made an error when choosing his final league table through the randomised format, as he declared: "What am I thinking, Brighton should be eighth, but got to go 11th now.
"Liverpool, first, they're gonna win it, unfortunately. Bournemouth 12th. Sunderland, bottom [20th], down. Oh, Spurs, Spurs aren't finishing fifth. Got to put them fifth, but Newcastle should be above Spurs.
"Oh, [Aston] Villa! Another one I've missed. Villa are 14th," he laughed, suggesting he should have put them much higher. "[Crystal] Palace are 15th as well. Leeds, my old team, is 19th, unfortunately.
"I want Leeds to stay up, but I don't think they're capable. All three teams that have come up will go down. I've messed up. You know who I'm confident is gonna finish higher than I've said here.
"Palace will finish higher than 15th. Villa will 100 percent finish higher than fourth and Brighton will finish higher than 11th. All the others are around about where they should be, Spurs are too high actually."
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