Football

Four become three: Liverpool to lose ground in Premier League title race, Bing predicts

Liverpool will lose ground on the top three Premier League teams this weekend when they slump to defeat against Manchester City, Bing has predicted.

The top three teams will all win, with third-placed Man City (41% chance of a victory) sweeping aside the Reds at the Etihad. Liverpool will hang on to fourth place, however, despite Arsenal’s victory against West Bromwich Albion.

Chelsea will retain their 10-point lead at the top. They have a 38% chance of beating Stoke City on Saturday, according to Microsoft’s search engine, with a 26% chance of a draw and a 36% chance of defeat.

If Diego Costa scores for the Blues, he’ll have netted his 50th Premier League goal for the club, making him the seventh player in Chelsea’s history to do so.

Second-placed Tottenham are expected to win their match against Southampton, with their chances of victory rated at 78%.

Manchester United have an 80% chance of beating Middlesbrough.

The rest of the standings will remain relatively unchanged, although West Ham and Burnley will climb up to 10th and 11th after their predicted victories, which will see Leicester drop down to 16th, and let last-placed Sunderland remain where they are.

Talks of Antonio Conte’s contract extension with Chelsea see him take the top spot for the most searched-for manager on Bing, while Zlatan Ibrahimović’s three-match ban and transfer links to LA Galaxy comfortably make him the most searched-for player.

Bing created its predictions using a complex algorithm that analyses player performance.