🔗 Share this article

The weekend heralds the initial Wear-Tyne derby after 2024, but will it be – the Black Cats or the Magpies?

"Throughout the majority of last season, no one would have predicted the Wearside club getting promoted and challenging with Eddie Howe's Newcastle, never mind being above them in the table," remarked analyst Chris Sutton.

"The situation is very different now, and the way Sunderland play makes me think they've got a real chance."

The analyst is providing forecasts for all 380 Premier League games this season, in competition with artificial intelligence, readers and a variety of guests.

For the upcoming matchday, he faces off against England Gaming star Daniel 'Stingray' Ray.

Ray is competing for honours for the England's esports team – the Football Association's formal esports team – at the football simulation Uefa eEuro 2025 finals tournament, which is being held at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

The action will be streamed on Uefa's YouTube, IG Live and short-form video channels, as well as the official Twitch channel and its YouTube counterpart and the national team's Twitch.

Do you agree with their scores? You can make your own projections below.

The most popular scoreline chosen for each game is featured in the tables at the end of this page.

Predicting the right outcome (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. An accurate scoreline earns forty points.

Ray, who also plays his club side and the Premier League champions as well as England, is competing for the first time at the eEuros finals after successfully navigating the preliminary stage.

Eight players will fly the flag at the finals in a knockout format, competing for a six-figure prize fund and a prestigious spot in the global championship qualifiers, with the Danish representative Anders Vejrgang defending the title he won last year.

"I'm feeling really good for it," Ray said. "I have a really good coach with me and training has been going well.

"It is invariably an honour to play for your country. Naturally when you are younger, you dream about doing it as an real-life footballer, but when you pursue a career in this profession and there is an chance to represent England, wearing the Three Lions is something incredible.

"I overcame Vejrgang 9-4 in qualifying to get here. I've played against him throughout the year just in practice, and in other tournaments before - but I'd always lost to him in a tournament before.

"For me he is the top competitor in the world so getting a win over him in a tournament like this just provides a huge surge of confidence."

Premier League Predictions

Saturday, 13 December

Chelsea vs Everton

Stamford Bridge, 15:00 GMT

Chelsea were impressive against Arsenal at the end of November, when they got a draw after going down to 10 men, and it seemed here we go, they could possibly be title contenders.

However, since that game, however, they were overpowered by Leeds, looked uninspired against Bournemouth and this week got beaten by Atalanta in the Champions League.

So boss Enzo Maresca really needs a win here to restore momentum, but it will be a challenge because the Merseyside club are such a threatening team.

Their key midfielders are playing really well and Everton have got a bit of momentum at the moment.

On form you would likely back Everton, while the most prudent prediction would probably be a draw, but I'm going against logic.

The Blues have failed to given me any compelling evidence to back them recently, but I just have a hunch Chelsea will win this match because they are at home and they are due a win.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Stingray's prediction: With this being at the Bridge, I am going to back Chelsea. I think they will start off really well and go 2-0 up, then Everton will nick one back but then Chelsea score late. 3-1

AI's prediction: 2-0

Liverpool vs Brighton

Anfield, 15:00 GMT

I'll be at this game and it will be interesting to see what we get from the Reds.

I was delighted for Reds boss Arne Slot to get such a great win at Inter Milan on Tuesday following all the controversy with Mohamed Salah this week.

Slot ought not to put up with that distraction. I know Salah has been a icon for Liverpool but at its core Slot just wants to win games and there is no bias in his team selection.

They changed their formation against Inter and went with a midfield diamond formation and two up top.

The media is going to be talking about whether Salah is back for this game, but the only way he is going to be brought back into the fold is if he says sorry.

Slot's attention will be on winning this game, but it is a challenging encounter.

You could argue it is the same for most teams but I find Brighton so mercurial. I always feel they have got a goal in them, but they are quite open too.

The Merseysiders need to get back to a consistent run of form, but I am not sure how much their energy spent at the San Siro will have drained them.

I've selected a couple of Brighton players in my FPL team, so they will likely do poorly - but I do think they can get something at Anfield.

Sutton's prediction: 2-2

Stingray's prediction: This is a game which is going to give Liverpool a bit more of their confidence back. Obviously they had a good win in midweek and they can build more momentum here. 2-1

AI's prediction: 3-1

Sunday, 14 December

Sunderland vs Newcastle

Stadium of Light, 14:00 GMT

Sunderland have had the week off while Newcastle had to battle intensely against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, only to be pegged back late on.

With the exception of their brilliant performance against Everton a couple of weeks ago, Newcastle's away form has been poor, particularly straight after they've played in the Champions League.

The pattern suggests that tendency to continue on Sunday, and their fatigue is likely to be a key element in how this game goes because of Sunderland's intensity.

We saw how relentless Regis le Bris's side are. They dominated the Gunners, and it was amazing to watch.

Many pundits talks about how Granit Xhaka has been outstanding for the Black Cats, and he has been excellent, but Noah Sadiki, who plays next to him, has also been one of the top transfers and deserves some attention too.

I am expecting this being the best game|most exciting fixture