Premier League Predictions, Week 30

© Micah Veldkamp, 2025

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Welcome back, Premier League fans! That's right, our long wander through the wilderness, we're finally back. Between the March international break, and the FA Cup taking precedence this weekend, it's been a lengthy two and a half weeks since our last league action (longer for Liverpool and Newcastle fans, whose teams played in the League Cup Final during the last matchweek). But the good news is that March window was the last international break of the league season: it's all Premier League weekends from here on out, baby!

It's been a pretty mediocre year for my predictions, but in case you forgot in all that has happened since, my Week 29 performance was pretty grand. I was one less Brighton goal away from having a flawless outing, but I missed my prediction of a Manchester City win rather than a draw with the Gulls. Apart from that, though: accurate win predictions for Nottingham Forest, Fulham, and Arsenal, and a dead-on League Cup Final prediction of Newcastle upsetting Liverpool 2-1. That's a 4.5/5 week, which brings me back up to 63.5/120 on the year.

But, the matches for this week are less than 24 hours away from kicking back off, so let's not waste any more time picking up flower crowns from the adoring throngs. Here are your 5 for Week 30!

Arsenal vs. Fulham

Arsenal's title hopes might be slim, but they've kept them alive by winning a big one last time out, pipping Chelsea for a win in their 'game in hand' over league leaders Liverpool. This is a tricky one because Fulham are still in contention for Champions League places, and are far from the easiest opponents to return from a long layoff against, even before factoring in the possibility that Mikel Arteta's men might have one eye on next week's mammoth Champions League clash with Real Madrid. That said, the combination of Fulham's listless FA Cup performance on Saturday and this being at Emirates Stadium makes me feel better about picking the Gunners to take all 3 points.

The Pick: Arsenal, 2-1

Nottingham Forest vs. Manchester United

Nottingham Forest took a big step towards securing a famous Top 4 finish with a big win over Manchester City, and added to their margin with a second win while City drew Brighton. A season sweep of the Manchester teams at the City Ground would move them that much closer to immortality, and they'll be favored to do it against a Manchester United team that's been nothing short of dismal this season. United has won their last two matches by a combined scoreline of 7-1, to be fair, and is always capable of popping up with an unexpected result, but I figure this will be too big an ask of a team that has just about nothing to play for at this point.

The Pick: Nottingham, 2-1

Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Aston Villa

Unless or until Arsenal closes the gap with Liverpool atop the table, the most intriguing Premier League race by far coming down the stretch of the season is the race for the Top 5, as 5 is likely to be the magic number for English teams to get into next season's Champions League. 5 is also the number of points separating 4th-place Chelsea from 10th-place Bournemouth, putting a whole lot of teams into play for European competition, including these two, 7th-place Brighton and 9th-place Aston Villa. These teams have cut a similar profile this season: often high-flying, over-achieving, and difficult for anyone regardless of status to handle, but every now and then, turning a performance so dreadful it undoes their good progress. Villa are in more reliable form, and have the more proven manager, but also are on the road and have Champions League football to currently worry about, unlike Brighton. I'll split the difference here.

The Pick: Draw, 2-2

Chelsea vs. Tottenham Hotspur

To call the second half of Chelsea's season a "capitulation" would be far too strong, but many a Blues fan is likely wondering how a team that was being touted as a 'title contender' around the holidays is now just desperately trying to cling on to their Top 5 status. That will happen when you win just 4 of your 13 league matches since Christmas, as Chelsea have. The good news? They get to host Tottenham, who, while having enough star power to generate goals and maybe even the occasional big result, have looked like "second half Chelsea" for the entire season at this point. A Spurs surprise in this match would certainly be typical of both these teams, but I don't think it will happen.

The Pick: Chelsea, 4-2

Liverpool vs. Everton

For most of the calendar year 2025, Liverpool's spot atop the table has looked secure, but the narrow blip in which it seemed their hold on the league lead might be shaky came when last these two crosstown rivals met, where an Arsenal winning streak, a frenzied 98th-minute equalizer from James Tarkowski, and postmatch red cards to multiple Liverpool players and manager Arne Slot conspired to throw Reds fans into a mild panic. Fortunes have changed since then, with the Toffees' nine-match unbeaten streak seemingly lifting them out of their desperate relegation battle, and a prompt four-match winning streak from Liverpool reestablished them as runaway favorites for the league title. But Liverpool fans everywhere are thankful they have such a big lead in the standings, as it's been a good several weeks since they've seen their team play well-- their last action prior to the 2 week layoff was a brutal stretch of being eliminated in the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain on penalties, and then getting completely outclassed by Newcastle in a cup final. Everton always seem hell-bent on making life difficult for their rivals-- as they should! --and I don't expect Wednesday will be different, especially how shoddy Liverpool have often looked coming back from international breaks this season. But I just don't see these Reds tripping up against their 'little brothers' twice in one season.

The Pick: Liverpool, 3-1