Premier League Matchday 18 Predictions
Welcome back and its arguably the most exciting day on the football calendar with Boxing Day football up next. I hope everyone who reads this had an excellent Christmas, should they celebrate, and if not, I hope you had a great day! Let’s get into the predictions where Alex, Yassin, and Scott battle it out in the table for the predictions.
Premier League Matchday 18 Previews & Predictions
Manchester City vs Everton
Manchester City: The Citizens continued their atrocious form by losing to Villa. When Guardiola said he would learn much from Russell Martin, no one thought he would mean it literally.
Everton: The Toffees are on the back of a decent draw against title challengers Chelsea and a few months ago would have thought of this as a rough game; however, with City’s form, who knows?
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 2-0 Everton and City yet again undone and are in real need of a January rebuild.
Yassin’s prediction: 3-1 City. The Citizens escape their slump by rolling over Sean Dyche’s team.
Southampton vs West Ham
Southampton: New boss Ivan Juric takes charge of his first game against a shaky West Ham side of late and will be hoping for 3 points.
West Ham: The Hammers continued their mini-revival under Lopetegui and are slowly climbing up the league table.
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 2-0 Southampton Juric’s side battle hard and grind out an optimistic win Vs West Ham.
Yassin’s prediction: 2-1 Saints. The Saints got a draw in Ivan Juric’s first game. In the Croatian first game at home, Southampton gets the win.
Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham
Nottingham Forest: Sitting fourth in the league table with 31 points. They went to a ground where nobody won this season and dismantled Brentford. They are in dreamland; this season is a reminder of the best version of Wolves teams under Santo.
Tottenham: Ange’s side are so disjointed at the moment it’s ridiculous they win 5-0 one week and lose 6-3 the next; it’s a proper spursy rolacoster.
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 4-3 Nottingham Forest is a tipsy turvy game that ends with Forest winning with ease, although on paper it looks a struggle.
Yassin’s prediction: 3-0 Forest. One team is well structured and disciplined. The other is chaotic and inconsistent. Santo’s boys roll over his old team with ease.
Newcastle vs Aston Villa
Newcastle: Eddie Howe’s men have hit a rich vein of form, scoring plenty and not conceeding many; however, up against Villa it could be a different story.
Aston Villa: They got back on track with a win against City. Unai Emery’s team has to go to one of the toughest grounds in England to prove their win against City is the start of them getting back on track.
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 3-2 Villa. An entertaining and edge-of-the-seat encounter that lets the Villans leave St. James’ Park with all three points.
Yassin’s prediction: 2-2. Two teams that are close in quality. This will be one of the best Boxing Day matchups.
Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace
Bournemouth: The Cherries went to Old Trafford and beat the Red Devils, benefiting from their most clinical game of the season. Iraola will hope that efficiency continues for the rest of the season. If anyone said at the start of the season that they would be above Manchester City after 17 rounds, they would have been called crazy. This is how good of a season the Cherries are having.
Crystal Palace: Crystal Palace will hope to put their defeat at the hands of the gunners behind them as they attempt to unpick the Cherries.
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 4-0 Bournemouth. The Eagles do not fight back and succumb to a second huge defeat in a row.
Yassin’s prediction: 4-2 Bournemouth. The Cherries continue their quest for European football with an easy win against Palace.
Fulham vs Chelsea
Fulham: Fulham will be disappointed with that performance against Southampton; however, they have a huge local game to look forward too next, with red-hot Chelsea hosting them at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea: The Blues winning streak got stopped at Goodison Park. It feels that Chelsea will never win at Goodison, no matter how good of a team they have.
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 4-2 Chelsea. Palmer and co-rip apart the Cottagers.
Yassin’s prediction: 2-1 Chelsea. A tough game ends with Chelsea winning to keep applying the pressure on Liverpool and fending off Arsenal’s challenge for second place.
Wolves vs Manchester United
Wolves: They had a stunning victory against the woeful foxes and will now look to pounce on already injured prey and rip apart the Red Devils.
Manchester United: The Red Devils will feel hard done by the result of the Bournemouth game. They had four big chances and 2.28 Xg but could not score while the Cherries scored from the limited chances they got. Amorim needs to fix their defensive set pieces issues though.
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 2-0 United. Diallo staring in a performance that should be seen as routine.
Yassin’s prediction: 3-2 Manchester United. Wolves got a good win against Leicester in Pereira’s first game. His first home game will be a tough challenge though and the Red Devils bounce back with a win.
Liverpool vs Leicester City
Liverpool: The Reds went on to White Hart Lane and rolled over Tottenham. Their reward for that performance is an easy home game against Leicester.
Leicester City: Leicester have been absolutely awful as of late, with Ruud Van Nistelroy not having the impact everyone thought he would.
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 6-0 Liverpool. Salah and the rest really go hard on the Foxes, leaving no prisoners.
Yassin’s prediction: 5-0 Liverpool. The only question in this game is how much Liverpool is going to win.
Brighton vs Brentford
Brighton: The seagulls are continuing to free fall. If they want to have any chance to play European football next season, they need to start winning.
Brentford: Brentford’s away form has been woeful this season, not winning at all; therefore, changing at Albion doesn’t seem likely.
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 2-0 Brighton. The Albion get back to their form they had at the start of the season and hope to hit the end of the festive period on a high.
Yassin’s prediction: 3-3. A fun game between two fun and chaotic teams.
Arsenal vs Ipswich Town
Arsenal: They finally scored from open play against Palace, but they lost Bukayo Saka. Fortunately for them, they should not need him so much to beat Ipswich at the Emirates.
Ipswich: Ipswich really need to pick up form; otherwise, they’re in real danger after a shocking performance vs. Newcastle. Arsenal up next and it doesn’t look like their fortunes will change.
Predictions
Alex’s prediction: 5-0 Arsenal routine and continued for Arteta and his side.
Yassin’s prediction: 4-0 Arsenal. I am done predicting Ipswich will have a good result. The Gunners get an easy win as their reward for Christmas.
Standings
As always, Scott’s predictions can be found on our TikTok account!
| Predictor | Points Last Week | Total Points |
|---|---|---|
| Alex | 4 | 82 |
| Yassin | 1 | 67 |
| Scott | 6 | 93 |
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