The 2025-26 season was one to remember for Newcastle United, but mostly for the wrong reasons.
Eddie Howe’s side lost top scorer Alexander Isak last summer but spent the best part of £120million in trying to replace him with Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa, while a further £130m was spent on signing Malick Thiaw, Jacob Ramsey and Anthony Elanga.
Only Thiaw was a roaring success as Newcastle went from finishing fifth last season to 12th this season, losing 17 of their 38 games whilst dropping a staggering 27 points from winning positions.
And rubbing salt into the wounds were local rivals Sunderland. The Black Cats were in League One when Howe took charge of Newcastle but in their first season back in the Premier League have done the double over the Magpies and qualified for the Europa League for the first time in their history.
Newcastle have a massive summer coming up, one that has already started with the £69million sale of Anthony Gordon to Barcelona.
Looking ahead to next season, we asked AI tool Grok to predict the final Premier League table - and here’s what it came up with:
Predicted points: 28-32.
1. Hull City (20th)
Predicted points: 28-32. | Getty Images
Predicted points: 32-36.
2. Ipswich Town (19th)
Predicted points: 32-36. | Getty Images
Predicted points: 36-40.
3. Coventry City (18th)
Predicted points: 36-40. | Getty Images
Predicted points: 38-42.
4. Leeds United (17th)
Predicted points: 38-42. | Getty Images