The predictions title race has gone to the final day of the Premier League season, with Chris Sutton level with Microsoft chatbot Copilot on outright wins and needing one more victory on Sunday to finish top. Sutton has made predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season against AI, Sport readers and a string of guests, but he is only second because he has recorded fewer tied victories.
For week 38, Sutton is up against singer-songwriter and Arsenal fan Sam Tompkins, whose timing could hardly be better. Arsenal were crowned champions on Tuesday after Manchester City drew with Bournemouth, ending a 22-year wait, and Tompkins was on holiday with his partner in Paris when the result came through.
Sutton did not hide his view of the contest so far. “The readers and the guests have put up a pretty pathetic fight,” he said. “It is just down to me now.” He added: “I am a bit like Doctor Who, in that it is all down to me to save the human race.”
Tompkins, who has had two UK Top 10 albums and more than 300 million global streams, said he had tried not to watch the football while out for dinner in Paris. “We had gone out for a really nice dinner and I'd been trying to look away from football for the evening,” he said. “Then my mate texted me at half-time, saying '45 minutes'. At first I was like 'what does that mean?', before I realised that Bournemouth were winning.”
He said he ended up watching the rest of the match with his partner before celebrating in the streets of the French capital. “After that I just watched the rest of the game with my missus - she was actually very happy to watch it with me to be fair - and then at full-time I ran through the streets of Paris screaming!” Tompkins said.
He said Arsenal’s title and next weekend’s Champions League final against Paris St-Germain had opened up a huge few days for supporters. “The title is in the bag and we have Budapest to look forward to. Now we can sit back and see what happens to Spurs on Sunday. What a month it would be if everything comes off,” he said.
The predictions contest has been run across the full Premier League season with Sutton, readers, guests and Copilot all trying to land the most outright wins. Sunday now decides whether Sutton finishes on top, or whether a tie-heavy campaign leaves Copilot with the crown.
