Predictive Analytics in English Football:
How the Data Experts
Are Boosting the EPL

By Charbel Remaili, Consultant at Novon

Adopt cloud-based data management and cloud-based data storage.

Add a data fabric architecture for seamless integration. Organisations are looking for flexible data management solutions as data continues to sprawl across disparate destinations—on-premises data centres, multiple clouds, and edge devices.

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Once upon a time, football was all guts, booze, and vibes. Now? It’s stats, spreadsheets, and a data guy with a laptop telling your £50 million striker he’s running a bit too much in training. Welcome to 2025, where predictive analytics is the not-so-secret sauce behind who’s lifting trophies—and who’s still dusting off the cabinet waiting for one.

But among all the clubs getting data-drunk, one stands alone at the top of the table: Liverpool FC. Let’s break it down, club by club—with a few necessary jabs at the usual suspects along the way.

Liverpool FC: The Stat Kings of Anfield

Say what you want about Scousers—they’ve mastered the art of mixing passion with precision. Under FSG and backed by their Oxford-educated stat wizard Ian Graham, Liverpool turned “Moneyball” into “Moneybags with Medals.”

They’ve built a squad that runs, presses, and scores like it’s programmed to do so—and in a way, it is.

Recruitment: While Chelsea are busy spending £100m on players who’d struggle in a Championship playoff, Liverpool’s models are pulling world-class ballers out of Austria and the Championship.

Injury Prevention: Players are tracked like NASA astronauts—if one sneezes in training, three analysts run a wellness check.

Tactics: Slot listens to AI-backed playbooks to decide when to press, how to counter, and how to create chaos from corners—literally powered by DeepMind.

As of 2025, Liverpool are the reigning Premier League champions—having finally secured the title after their intense battle with City. It’s not luck—it’s logistics.

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Brentford FC: The Underdog Data Dons

Brentford aren’t supposed to be here, yet they are—thriving in the top flight on a budget smaller than what Man United spend on social media graphics. Owner Matthew Benham’s background in betting science led them to build one of the most efficient recruitment systems in football.

They scout players the big clubs overlook.
They sign low, sell high, and reinvest with surgical precision.
And they do it all from a stadium that looks like a posh Lego set.

They may not be chasing titles, but they’re a masterclass in what happens when you let algorithms pick your transfers rather than agents with yachts.

Manchester City: AI Meets Unlimited Cash

Manchester City, to no one’s surprise, are both rich and smart. It’s annoying. They’ve weaponised analytics across their whole City Football Group empire—from New York to Girona—and used it to craft one of the most dominant teams in Premier League history.

Scouting: Found Julian Álvarez in Argentina for peanuts. Sold Ferran Torres for double. Standard procedure.
Tactics: Pep has four formations in a single half, each backed by a machine that’s probably calculating wind speed.
Training: Players know exactly when to rest, sprint, or nutmeg someone in training without risking a hamstring.

It’s not even fair anymore. Their AI doesn’t just analyse matches—it predicts the future. Which brings us to…

Tottenham Hotspur: The Trophy Cabinet Case Study

From 2009 to 2019, Tottenham’s trophy cabinet was... well, tidy. Very tidy. Dust-free, in fact, because there was nothing inside to get dirty. A whole decade of “nearly,” “almost,” and “if only Kane hadn’t slipped.”

Predictive analytics now suggest that by 2029, the cabinet will be slightly different. Not fuller. Just dustier. With more cobwebs. The models indicate that Ange Postecoglou will be sacked (after trying to play a high line against a team with Mbappé), and Spurs will be entering yet another rebuild—still hoping to break back into the top six.

And yes, they’ll still be saying “trust the process”, despite no one actually remembering what the process was supposed to be.

Arsenal: The Tactical Groundhog Day

Across North London, Arsenal’s been proudly backing their own predictive model—which seems to be permanently stuck on “challenge, then choke.”

Their manager said the formula was simple: bring in quality players, a set-piece coach, and perfect the same gameplay structure every week. And credit where it’s due: it almost worked.

They’ve now completed the treble of challenging for the EPL title and letting it slip when it mattered. Not easy. But consistent.

A better predictive system—one driven by machine learning rather than just vibes and faith—might’ve told them to tweak their tactics based on opponents, rotate their squad, and not play a high line against counter-attacking teams. But hey, they looked great doing it.

Brighton: Everyone’s Favourite Footballing Lab

Brighton keep losing players and managers, yet somehow keep punching above their weight. It’s like someone coded Football Manager into their transfer strategy and just let it run.

They recruited Mac Allister, Caicedo, Mitoma, and Ferguson using models that probably look at heatmaps, sprint speeds, and vibes-per-90. Then they sold half of them for ridiculous profit, replaced them with more unknowns—and didn’t miss a beat.

In 2025, Brighton are what Spurs think they are: clever, sustainable, and genuinely going places.

Newcastle United: The Billionaire Dream That’s Just Not Coming True

Ah, Newcastle. The richest club in the world—except their squad still plays like it’s the 90s. Saudi money might have bought them some plush players, but their data game? Still stuck in the dial-up internet era.

Signings: The last few years have been a parade of players who look like they’re good on paper—until they step on the pitch and get out-paced by a 36-year-old Luka Modrić.

Tactics: Eddie Howe talks a good game, but the stats show he’s still struggling with squad rotation. The data says they’ll be a mid-table team for the next few years—basically like watching someone try to restart their phone over and over, and it still won’t work.

To add insult to injury, Newcastle have one of the wealthiest owners in the game and are still scrapping for position with clubs like Villa and Brighton. Sure, they’ve lifted the Carabao Cup—but let’s not pretend it’s the pinnacle of English football. The real predictive analysis shows that, in 2029, Newcastle might still be chasing Champions League dreams like it’s folklore. Their hopes of breaking into the top four? In the words of every cautiously optimistic Geordie: “Aye, maybe next season... again.”

What’s driving a modern Data Architecture?

In today's digital economy, data is a critical asset that drives business innovation, efficiency, and a competitive advantage. A modern data architecture is at the heart of leveraging this business asset. It is designed to address the complexities and scale of managing data in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. So, what are the key tenants of a modern data architecture that allow for this agility, innovation, and security of your organisations data.

Adopt cloud-based data management and cloud-based data storage.
Add a data fabric architecture for seamless integration. Organisations are looking for flexible data management solutions as data continues to sprawl across disparate destinations—on-premises data centres, multiple clouds, and edge devices.
Add a data mesh architecture to simplify and focus your response to the changing data landscape. It will enable your organisation to respond quickly and cost effectively to the data changes that abound in 2024
Adopt automation using generative AI and ML in data management.
Adopt low-code / no-code for data integration. Find the vendors or data specialists that have completed work similar to your challenge. Successful experienced operators are key.
Provide data governance, security, and privacy in an automated fashion. There is no time in 2024 to manually rediscover and develop data changes that other organisations have already found and adopted. These changes must be automated through generative AI and ML capabilities.

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Data management guiding principles still apply in today’s data landscape, however, today change is very rapid and there is no room for a bottom-up approach to managing your data, rather you should build pervasive AI / generative AI / ML models that do the heavy lifting for you.

In 2023 and still today we talk about data gravity as a key challenging principle of today’s modern enterprise data platform, but increasingly anti-data gravity is seen as the key issue in 2024 and beyond.

Data gravity is well documented, essentially this is where the accumulation of data (operations and analytical) attracts more data and services into its business data mix, thereby increasing data complexity and potentially causing serious challenges for an organisation to maximise the value of their data, especially if you have adopted a cloud first approach for your infrastructure. To further complicate this scenario, consider the challenges if you are a global organisation as you manage across different time zones, regulatory and business structures.

Anti-gravity advocates that the data and expertise should stay local and the two modern data architectures when used correctly can help moderate these challenges are data fabric and data mesh architectures.

Is Data Ruining the Game?

The days of “go out there and run harder than them” are over. Clubs are using predictive analytics to guide nearly every part of the game:

Fan engagement: Sending you kit emails just as your team wins (or loses—it works both ways).

Matchday decisions: Picking subs, formation changes, and press triggers based on expected opponent behaviour.

Long-term planning: Predicting contract value, peak form years, and injury windows.
It’s all data, and it’s all deadly—if used right.

Why Liverpool Are Still the Kings of the Data Game

Liverpool don’t just use data. They live it. Their recruitment is smarter. Their tactics are sharper. And their squad management is years ahead of most of the league.

They’ve proven that analytics isn’t just about looking clever—it wins titles. And unlike their rivals, they adapt. They change systems, lineups, and approaches based on data from upcoming opponents.

Which, in 2025, is why they’re top of the table and Arsenal are once again planning an open-top bus parade for being “title contenders until April.”

Final Whistle

As the data-driven dust settles and Liverpool once again lift the Premier League trophy, it’s clear: the Reds aren’t just back—they’ve rewritten the history books. Manchester United? Still stuck on their long-term project of living off past glories and “heritage vibes.” Tottenham? Well, they’ve proudly added another year to their “Trophy Abstinence Challenge.” Meanwhile, Arsenal, with their usual flair, have secured an impressive “Treble of Finishing Second.”

But let’s be real. When the analytics, silverware, and footballing brilliance are all laid out, the conclusion is undeniable: the greatest English football club of all time belts out ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’—and doesn’t need 115 charges to prove its greatness. No ifs, no VARs—just the facts.

Up the Reds!

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Predictive Analytics in English Football:How the Data ExpertsAre Boosting the EPL