There Can Be Only One

Well, I had to find a reason to pull out the old Highlander quote.

That said, here's how your favorite Insider stacked up on his predictions for the 2010/11 EPL Season:

Here was our predictions:

El Nino "The Godfather"'s 1. Chelsea 2. Liverpool 3. Manchester United 4. Arsenal 5. Manchester City 6. Tottenham 7. Everton 8. Fulham 9. Wigan Athletic 10.Bolton Wanderers 11.Blackburn Rovers 12.Aston Villa 13.Sunderland 14.Newcastle (P) 15.Birmingham City 16.West Ham United 17.Wolverhampton Wanderers 18.Stoke City 19.Blackpool (P) 20.West Bromwich Albion (P)	"The Professor’s" 1. Manchester United 2. Arsenal 3. Chelsea 4. Liverpool 5. Manchester City 6. Everton 7. Fulham 8. Tottenham 9. Sunderland 10.Aston Villa 11.Stoke City 12.West Ham United 13.Blackburn Rovers 14.Newcastle (P) 15.Birmingham City 16.Wigan Athletic 17.Bolton Wanderers 18.West Bromwich Albion (P) 19.Wolverhampton Wanderers 20.Blackpool (P)	"Mr. X’s" 1. Manchester United 2. Chelsea 3. Manchester City 4. Arsenal 5. Tottenham Hotspur 6. Liverpool 7. Everton 8. Sunderland 9. Birmingham City 10.Fulham 11.Blackburn Rovers 12.Wigan Athletic 13.Newcastle (P) 14.Aston Villa 15.West Ham United 16.Bolton Wanderers 17.Stoke City 18.Woverhampton Wanderers 19.Blackpool (P) 20.West Bromwich Albion (P)

Disclaimers-
-Newly promoted teams are noted with a (P)
-These are based on signings as of 8/10/10

And here's what happened:

1. Manchester United
2. Chelsea
3. Manchester City
4. Arsenal
5. Tottenham Hotspur
6. Liverpool
7. Everton
8. Fulham
9. Aston Villa
10.Sunderland
11.West Brom
12.Newcastle
13.Stoke
14.Bolton
15.Blackburn
16.Wigan
17.Wolves
18.Birmingham
19.Blackpool
20.West Ham

Yup. You are reading that correctly... Mr. X picked the first 7 in order. That said, it's not that hard to pick 6 of those 7. And only the Professor slipped up by putting Spurs in 8th (that's what you get by doubting Tottenham).

Looking back, we also have to apologize across the board to West Brom fans everywhere. They did much better than we anticipated and cheers to you, all 10 of you. We all also corrected predicted Blackpool relegating, also not a hard decision considering the tightness with which their owner holds his wallet. We hope to see them back next year though, as Ian Halloway is always a fun watch and likes to keep the EPL honest on their comments.

In other predictions, while I called Beckford as the man to watch (statistically speaking, with 8 goals in 32 appearances, he was Everton's leading scorer/appearances), it was the Professor's call on Chicharito and his 12 goals in 27 appearances for the Red Devils that put him over the top here.

For the Golden Boot, the Professor and the Godfather both shat a brick with Rooney and Drogba respectively and while I was no better picking Chicharito, I should have gone with my original pick of Tevez. See... that is why even Mr. X should never doubt Mr. X.

For Most Improved, it isn't a far reach when we all picked Man City. In the end, money does buy a lot, and the Mancs are no exception to the rule. For Most Overrated, it's a toss up. Liverpool qualifies only on being dropped out of the Top 5 (move over constant Top 4 teams). Spurs also can qualify here because after their stellar run in CL play, they are now relegated to the Europa League next year.

The Team to Watch is debatable. The Professor and I both selected Newcastle to various extents, and while they were the team to watch in the first half of the season, the selling on of Andy Carroll shot any chance of them surprising anyone in the second half.

The Surprise Player is neck and neck. The Godfather told us all to watch Chicharito, and as mentioned before, he was definitely right. Conversely, I told you to watch out for Tottenham's Gareth Bale, and that he would score 7 in league play. Hmmm... predicted 7 goals, check, stunning play, with games against Milan where he single-handedly keeps Spurs in it with a hat-trick, check... Yeah, I'm biased, so I give that award to me.

And your winner of the TSI Predictor:



Thank you all for playing, and stay tuned for next season's Predictions...