Pundits' Premier League pre-season predictions and how they got on – including Gary Neville

The Premier League season has concluded - and it won't just be Arsenal fans trying to forget what happened.

That's because it's now time to reflect on the predictions made all the way back before a ball was first kicked last August. Naturally, Manchester City were the popular pick to emerge as champions for the pundits who grace our TV screens on a regular basis.

But they won't have got all of their selections right, with some now looking worse than others with the benefit of hindsight. It's only fair to call out the good with the bad.

So Mirror Football is taking a look at how some of the well-known names fared with their pre-season shouts, including the Monday Night Football team and Match of the Day regulars.

Gary Neville

Manchester United icon Neville went against the grain, backing Arsenal to end City's dominance. "I’m banking on three things. Post-treble, [City] have a little bit of a [drop off]," he explained.

"The difficulties over a season when you’re playing in Super Cups, Club World Cups. They haven’t got the biggest squad. With Haaland, last season he only missed three matches. If he was to miss 10 or 15, I think that would be enough to give Arsenal a real chance."

None of those factors truly came into play as City secured a record-breaking fourth successive title. Another thing he got wrong was his former side getting top four.

But Neville did correctly back Liverpool and picked Aston Villa to get European football, albeit not the Champions League qualification they achieved. He was also correct with Chelsea finishing in the top six.

His choice of Bournemouth to be relegated alongside Luton and Sheffield United aged like milk, and tipping Andre Onana as the one to watch wasn't particularly successful. He had Erling Haaland as top scorer though, and Declan Rice as the impact signing.

Jamie Carragher

Unlike his colleague, Carragher got it right with City finishing above Arsenal. He too reckoned United would finish third ahead of Liverpool, and had Newcastle coming sixth behind Chelsea.

Other than that, it was largely successful across the board for the Reds legend, who is often on the money thanks to his encyclopaedic knowledge of the game.MNF duo, Carney had the top three down to a tee. It was United again who let her down for a full sweep of the Champions League spots.

Like Carragher, she had Newcastle fifth and Chelsea sixth, with the Magpies actually coming up just short in seventh after struggling to contend with fighting on four fronts in the first half of the season.

Her relegated picks were also spot on, but it deteriorated thereafter. She "wanted a different name" and went with her "gut feeling" of Mohamed Salah as top scorer, with Liverpool's star man falling nine goals short down in seventh place.

Similar to Neville, she selected Onana as the impact signing of the season, and had Kaoru Mitoma as the one to watch. He was absent through injury for the large spells of a trickier season for Brighton.

Richards has already been left with egg on his face when it comes to predictions this season, hilariously getting all four Champions League quarter-final results wrong for CBS Sports last month.

It's a bit better for him looking back at his Premier League picks for the the BBC. He was certain former side City would retain their crown.

Danny Murphy

Match of the Day pundit Murphy was a fan of the business Erik ten Hag did in last summer's transfer window and was "a bit worried" for the rest of the league, which isn't a good look nine months on.

He felt they were going to improve away from home with the introduction of Onana in between the sticks, but they actually picked up more points at Old Trafford this season.

Murphy was excited by the arrival of Mac Allister at his old club Liverpool, and he was indeed one of the standout signings. And he accurately assessed Newcastle's slim chances of making top four again and the injury issues they suffered.

"The intensity and huge physicality they play with means playing that way twice a week will be hard," he insisted. "They have made some really good signings, don't get me wrong, but I still think they are short of a centre-half or, ideally, two if they have any injuries there."

Chris Sutton

Sutton foresaw City's success and even called the emergence of Josko Gvardiol as an attacking threat, which fully transpired in the second half of the season.

He predicted: "Guardiola evolves something every year - some tweak to his tactics will emerge and another player always seems to step in and become key."

He was also wary of "reading too much" into Arsenal's Community Shield triumph and didn't fancy United's chance, although still picked them in third.

Claiming "the top four is too big a step" for Aston Villa wasn't a good move. But on the flip side, he was excited for Ange Postecoglou's debut season at Tottenham, considering them for fourth had Harry Kane stayed - and they were ultimately fifth.

Stephen Warnock

Sky Sports News regular Warnock deserves major props as one of only two BBC pundits to choose Villa for top four, along with England legend Ellen White. But while she tipped United for third over Liverpool, he was correct on all counts.

Warnock had seen Unai Emery's side up close in the United States Summer Series, which convinced him they were contenders. He was also scarily spot on about Ten Hag's Red Devils.