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Pre-season predictions are always fraught with danger - and the 2025/26 campaign demonstrated that as clearly as ever.
While certain clubs performed broadly in line with expectations - it was no surprise that Manchester City challenged for the Premier League title, for example, nor that Burnley struggled - others didn't read the script.
So, with the domestic campaign over and the 2026 World Cup still a couple of weeks away, we looked back at FourFourTwo's Season Preview - which you can find here - to see what we got right and where we were wide of the mark. First up, here are five predictions that proved prescient...
1. Aston Villa
After returning to Europe and reaching multiple semi-finals at home and abroad, the only thing missing from Aston Villa's revival under Unai Emery was some silverware - and they finally broke their 30-year trophy drought by lifting the Europa League following a dominant 3-0 victory over Freiburg.
The Villans had already achieved qualification for next season's Champions League via the Premier League, which made up for missing out on Europe's elite club competition on the final day of last term.
FourFourTwo weren't far off with our verdict, saying Emery's side had top-four quality while predicting a sixth-place finish, but Villa fan Phil Gennoy was even more on the money. Asked where the club would finish, he said: "Back in the Champions League, with a trophy in the cabinet." Bang on.
2. Junior Kroupi
Bournemouth's £10m swoop for Junior Kroupi in the 2025 January transfer window made very few headlines beyond the south coast, particularly because the then 18-year-old remained with French Ligue 2 club Lorient for the rest of that season.
Everyone knows about the teenager know, though, after an excellent debut Premier League campaign in which he scored home and away against Arsenal and Manchester United, as well as a crucial strike in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City that handed the Gunners the title.
Without sounding too smug, we were ahead of the game in our Bournemouth pre-season preview, identifying Kroupi as the Cherries' one to watch before he had played a competitive game for the club - and featuring him in our 'The Boy's A Bit Special' series.
3. Rio Ngumoha
Another teenage sensation to enjoy a breakthrough campaign was Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha, who played 29 games this season after making his debut last term.
The winger was still four days shy of his 17th birthday when he came off the bench to score a dramatic winner in a 3-2 triumph at Newcastle United last August, kick-starting an excellent 2025/26 in which he was even put forward as a potential bolter for the England World Cup squad.
Props to Matt Ladson, who identified Ngumoha as his one to watch before the season began in his Liverpool preview - and was swiftly vindicated with that goal at St James' Park.
4. Tottenham Hotspur's Jekyll and Hyde form
While we can't pretend that we predicted Tottenham Hotspur would finish 17th for the second successive season (we said seventh), last term's run to Europa League glory perhaps gave us a small insight into the 2025/26 campaign.
Having seen Spurs experience vastly different results at home and on the continent in 2024/25, we wrote the following in the section entitled 'Most Likely To': "Pull off a stunning Champions League victory and fall to a dire Premier League defeat within the space of four days. Adapting from Barcelona to Burnley is never easy."
Unfortunately for Tottenham fans, that proved rather too accurate. In fact, Spurs failed to win the Premier League game that immediately followed a European victory on six separate occasions, in a season that culminated with securing survival only on the final day.
5. Lincoln City
You'll have to bear with us on this one, as we technically did predict Lincoln City to finish 10th in League One. Instead, the Imps racked up 103 points on their way to the title and a return to the second tier for the first time since 1961.
However, there were a couple of signs that we thought Lincoln might be surprise promotion contenders. We wrote: "The Imps are part of the furniture now, entering a seventh consecutive season at this level and eyeing a third straight top-half finish. Dark horses, perhaps...?"
We added later on: "A talented young group, led by a technical coach in (Michael) Skubala and senior figures in (James) Collins and Sonny Bradley, could upset the favourites." Maybe we were on to something...
Who shocked us?
1. Chelsea
We weren't totally sold on Enzo Maresca's Chelsea before the season began, despite their fourth-place finish in 2024/25, which accompanied glory in the Conference League and Club World Cup.
Having predicted the Blues to finish fifth, we wrote under 'Most Likely To': "Do a Spurs, lurching between crisis and silverware, the bottom half and European trophy parade plans."
So nearly correct. Chelsea reached the FA Cup final but limped to 10th place in the Premier League, had three managers over the course of the campaign and at one point lost five successive league matches to nil. Plenty of crisis, not so much silverware.
2. Phil Foden
Last season was one to forget for Phil Foden, whose hangover from a disappointing Euro 2024 continued with a difficult 2024/25 campaign for Manchester City.
As a result, it was logical for us to promote him as 'One To Watch' for City this season, adding that he has a "point to prove" ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Ten goals before Christmas suggested we were on the money, but Foden hasn't scored since December and missed out on a place in Thomas Tuchel's squad for the tournament in North America.
3. Hull City
Once again, we weren't the only ones to underestimate Hull City after they secured Championship survival by the skin of their teeth last season, before a transfer embargo last summer restricted them to frees and loans.
However, Tigers fans will afford themselves a wry smile if they look back on why we predicted them to finish 20th: "Hull have quickly undone a lot of Liam Rosenior’s good work. Highly-regarded new manager Sergej Jakirovic has got money to spend after taking the helm, but that didn’t seem to help the Tigers much last season."
What happened? Hull reached the play-offs and secured an improbable promotion to the Premier League with a stoppage-time winner at Wembley, while Rosenior lasted just 106 days as Chelsea boss before being sacked in April.
4. Bromley
After finishing 11th in League Two in 2024/25 - their first EFL season - Bromley were looking up the table. We were a little more cautious, however.
"A mild dose of second-season syndrome for the Ravens" was our forecast for Andy Woodman's side - and we couldn't have been more wrong.
Bromley spent large parts of the campaign at the summit and pipped MK Dons to the title by a point, despite faltering late on. They are now looking forward to facing the likes of Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday in their maiden season in the third tier.
5. Motherwell
Hearts were clearly the big story north of the border, but we predicted Derek McInnes' side would finish third in the Scottish Premiership, so in the end we were out by only one place.
The one we really got wrong was Motherwell, whose manager Jens Berthel Askou promised that his side would play with "big intensity" when he was appointed last summer.
We should have listened to him. We predicted The Well would finish down in 10th, but instead they secured a deserved fourth place and were even outsiders for the title in the early months of 2026.
