UNU’S SWARM INTELLIGENCE TAKES ONE LAST CRACK AT THE EPL IN 2016

UNU’s winning streak predicting the results of the English Premier League continued this past week when we looked at the Boxing Day lineup and came away with a 6-4 record. That means that for the last month, UNU has been correct for 70% of all matches played in the EPL. Considering there are three possible outcomes to international soccer games (tie games happen at a 27% clip in the Premiership), that’s particularly impressive if we do say so! It’s a quick turnaround this week to the weekend’s New Years’ tilts, but we’re happy to have our swarm put its reputation on the line again.

Our swarm had heavy confidence on three games you’d expect them to feel that way about. Chelsea, Arsenal, and Man United are all playing in finest form of late and all have home matches against teams fighting to get out of the bottom third of the Premiership table. After a four-goal outburst on Wednesday, our swarm also likes Tottenham on the road at Watford. Of all those matches, though, it’s Chelsea facing an overmatched Stoke City team at Stamford Bridge that UNU chose as it’s best bet of the week:

The match likeliest to draw heavy fan interest looks to be Man City playing at Liverpool. Sergio Aguero returns from a four-game suspension for City, making this an almost even matchup of the number three and two teams respectively in the EPL standings. On the first pass, our swarm was a bit unimpressed with The Citizens, tagging Liverpool to take advantage of the raucous din at Anfield for a one goal win. In fact, our swarm had a powerful 80% brainpower belief in that.

But as we’ve shown over the past few weeks, we’ve really tapped into the swarm’s knowledge by asking them to think deeper about the games they pick. How much of a bet would our swarm risk on their Liverpool pick at home? Here’s where things get interesting: while the swarm THINKS The Reds will play a strong match at home, they’re also fully aware of the offensive firepower Man City brings to bear.

That knowledge mitigated the risk our swarm was willing to make to a large extent. They favored only a $25 bet on Liverpool to take the match. That’s not a bad wager at all, either. Even though the home side is a slight favorite, the sports books are giving decent odds just the same.

If you’re interested in joining our Premier League Soccer prediction swarms to help us make similar picks as the season progresses, we’d love to have you! The easiest way is to join our Facebook group.

Here is the full list of picks for this weekend, ranked by our betting confidence.

Chelsea to beat Stoke City: Replay, Worth betting $100, Replay

Arsenal to beat Crystal Palace: Replay, Worth betting $100, Replay

Man United to beat Middlesbrough: Replay, Worth betting $100, Replay

Tottenham to beat Watford: Replay, Worth betting $48, Replay

Southampton to beat West Brom: Replay, Worth betting $26, Replay

Liverpool to beat Man City: Replay, Worth betting $25, Replay

Leicester City to beat West Ham: Replay, Worth betting $19 Replay

Burnley FC to beat Sunderland: Replay,  Worth betting $15, Replay

Hull City to beat Everton: Replay, Wager not recommended, Replay

Bournemouth to beat Swansea City: Replay, Wager not recommended, Replay