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Sunday sees the first Wear-Tyne derby since 2024, but who will emerge victorious – Sunderland or Newcastle?
"Throughout the majority of last season, no one would have predicted Sunderland getting promoted and challenging with Eddie Howe's Newcastle, much less being above them in the table," commented pundit Chris Sutton.
"The situation is very different now, and the way they play makes me think they've got a solid shot."
The analyst is providing scoreline guesses for all 380 Premier League games this season, in competition with AI, the public and a variety of guests.
For this weekend's fixtures, he takes on England Gaming star Daniel 'Stingray' Ray.
Ray is competing for honours for the national gaming squad – the Football Association's formal esports team – at the EA Sports FC Uefa eEuro 2025 finals tournament, which takes place at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.
The action will be streamed on Uefa's YouTube, IG Live and TikTok channels, as well as the official Twitch channel and its YouTube counterpart and England's Twitch.
Do you agree with their predictions? Share your own predictions below.
The fan-favourite scoreline selected for each game is featured in the leaderboards at the foot of this page.
Predicting the right outcome (choosing a win, draw or defeat) is worth ten points. An accurate scoreline earns 40 points.
Ray, who competes for his club side and the Premier League champions as well as England, is entering the fray at the eEuros finals after successfully navigating the qualifying.
The final eight competitors will represent their nations at the finals in a single-elimination, competing for a $100,000 prize pool and a highly sought-after spot in the FC Pro World Championship Play-Ins, with Denmark's Anders Vejrgang looking to retain the title he won last year.
"My mindset is really good for it," Ray remarked. "There's a really good coach with me and preparation has been going well.
"It is invariably an honour to play for your country. Obviously when you are younger, you imagine doing it as an real-life footballer, but when you enter this job and there is an chance to represent England, donning the national jersey is something special.
"I beat 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 not previously defeated him in a tournament before.
"I believe he is the top competitor in the world so beating him in a tournament like this just gives you 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 secured a point after going down to 10 men, and it seemed here we go, they could possibly be challengers for the crown.
In the matches following, however, they were outfought 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 return to winning ways, but it is a tough ask because the Merseyside club are such a potent team.
Their key midfielders are playing exceptionally and they have got a bit of form at the moment.
Based on recent performances you would probably back the visitors, while the most prudent prediction would probably be a draw, but I am not going to be sensible.
They have not given me any compelling evidence to back them recently, but I just have a gut instinct they will emerge victorious 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 intriguing to see what we get from Liverpool.
I was delighted for Reds boss Arne Slot to get such a crucial result at Inter Milan on Tuesday after all the controversy with Mohamed Salah this week.
Slot ought not to put up with that drama. I know Salah has been a legend for the club but essentially Slot just wants to win games and there is nothing personal in his team selection.
Liverpool changed their shape against Inter and went with a midfield diamond formation and two up top.
The media is going to be talking about whether Salah is included for this game, but the only way he is going to be reintegrated is if he apologises.
Slot's focus 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 unpredictable. I always feel they have got a goal in them, but they are quite open too.
Liverpool need to get back to stringing wins together, but I am not sure how much their exertions at the San Siro will have drained them.
I have whacked a couple of Brighton players in my Fantasy Premier League side, so they will likely do poorly - but I do fancy 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
The Wearside club have had the week off while Newcastle had to exert themselves against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, only to concede a late equaliser late on.
Aside from their superb 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.
I am expecting that trend to continue on Sunday, and their tiredness is likely to be a significant issue in how this game goes because of Sunderland's high press.
We saw how unwavering Regis le Bris's side are. They bullied the Gunners, and it was incredible to watch.
Commentators talks about how Granit Xhaka has been brilliant for the Black Cats, and he has been brilliant, but Noah Sadiki, who plays alongside him, has also been one of the top transfers and should be recognised too.
This promises to be this being the best game|most exciting fixture
