Premier League Predictions, Week 17

© Micah Veldkamp, 2025

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Welcome back to the weekly predictions, Premier League fans, and Happy Holidays! We're approaching the days of fixture pileup madness, but a couple more normal league weekends await in the year 2025, and for those teams that are no longer in the League Cup (which I think everyone agrees, is a pointless, Mickey Mouse tournament), it's a full 7 days off at least since their last fixture.

My team Liverpool continues to slowly work their way back from a stretch of really poor form, and last week out, I continued to do the same. Ironically, it was Liverpool's victory over Brighton that gave me one of my two misses, the other being Manchester City's comprehensive defeat of Crystal Palace. But Arsenal's, Aston Villa's, and Sunderland's wins in their respective matches lifted to me to a 3/5 week, slightly improving my season average to .675, with a total of 38.5/57.

But, the matches are less than 12 hours from kicking off, so let's not waste any more time taking incremental steps. Here are your 5 for Week 17!

Newcastle United vs. Chelsea

This may not have turned into the annual high-stakes fixture that so many expected it to be a few years ago, when both clubs' new owners poured outrageous sums of money into the teams, but there's still bound to be plenty of exciting talent on the field when these two face off tomorrow morning, which should render this one of the more entertaining watches this season. Chelsea's old consistency problems have once again haunted them this season, preventing them from being in the thick of the title race, but they've had enough bursts of quality to remind us of their (Club World Cup-winning) ceiling. Newcastle's frustrating season still hasn't totally gotten off the ground at all, but so tight is the current state of the table that even all the way back in 12th place, they can close within 3 points of their 4th-place opponents with a win tomorrow. Given the ping-ponging nature of both these teams, the fact that Newcastle lost their last match while Chelsea won theirs makes me suspect this might be a Magpie victory. It doesn't hurt that it will be played in the friendly confines of St. James' Park.

The Pick: Newcastle, 2-1

Manchester City vs. West Ham United

Manchester City had enough false dawns last year that their fans may still be emotionally safeguarding against declaring them "back," but there's no denying their form of late has started to much more closely resemble the city teams we're used to seeing under Pep Guardiola, rather than the side that had a shambolic front half of last season and lost their grip on the title in the process. West Ham, on the other hand...it feels crazy that a club with a proven manager and the handful of talent they still have might actually be relegated, but at a certain point they need to win some matches, something they have done just twice since the month of August. It's not gonna start tomorrow, I fear; this one could get ugly fast.

The Pick: Man City, 5-1

Tottwnham Hotspur vs. Liverpool

Liverpool's futility has been perhaps the biggest story of the Premier League season thus far, and the champions' defense seemed doomed to a point of no return less than 2 weeks ago, when two collapses in the same match saw them settling for a second consecutive draw with a newly promoted team (this time Leeds), and immediately afterward, Mohamed Salah's heated interview publicly decried the strategy of both the front office and manager Arne Slot. Yet, they have quietly been better since that rock bottom point, and against all odds, enter into this matchup in better condition than their opponents. Tottenham started off with visions of their own "title in first year of new manager" as Thomas Frank had them unbeaten and atop the table into late September, but to say the wheels have fallen off is an understatement. Spurs have just 1 win from their last 7 league matches, and have fallen all the way to the bottom half of the table, with the cries to sack their new boss starting to reach a fever pitch. Of all the the fits and starts, these last couple weeks have felt like the clearest uptick in form and improvement from Liverpool since at least September, so much so that going into this match I almost feel....what's the word... confident? But not only have I already been burned so much by prematurely feeling we were back, I really do think Spurs will be inspired to fight a little harder to salvage their season in a big game in front of home fans. I could see this going either way, but because I don't feel assured enough in either team to award them 3 points, I'm gonna predict a wildly entertaining 2-all draw in North London.

The Pick: Draw, 2-2

Everton vs. Arsenal

Less than a month ago, Arsenal seemed inevitable. They hadn't lost since Labor Day weekend at Anfield, they were way out in front in the Premier League, and they had just become the first team in any league to defeat Bayern Munich this season. It just goes to show you how quickly fortunes can change in this league, though; a short, small little downturn in form later, the Gunners' lead atop the table has been shrunk to 2 points, and now they're celebrating beating the worst-performing team in recent Premier League history at home with a 94th-minute own goal like they've won a derby. On paper, this should be a match they control, but that definitely was the case for Wolves last weekend, and Everton present a much sterner test, especially at home. Based on recent form, I'm tempted to go with the Toffees taking some points off the league leaders, but I think the recent scares well help Arsenal refocus and pull out a gritty win.

The Pick: Arsenal, 1-0

Aston Villa vs. Manchester United

Aston Villa's exciting win at West Ham continued their unbelievable glow-up from the first month of the season to now: from languishing in the relegation zone to just 3 points out of 1st place, in the midst of a 9-match winning streak in all competitions. Manchester United under Ruben Amorim have had enough setbacks this season to keep them off the radar, but compared to some of the low lows they've experienced in recent years, they've quietly improved. United, in fact, sit just 2 points out of the Top 4, even with just 1 win from their last 5. Villa's in far too fine form for me to predict them losing at home, but I have developed a little bit of a spidey sense in recent years for when Man United is going to pop up with a surprising result (hint: it usually comes in matches where most people are writing them off but the quality gap isn’t all that large), and my senses are tingling with this one.

The Pick: Draw, 1-1