Premier League Predictions, Week 34

© Micah Veldkamp, 2025

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Welcome back, Premier League fans! "What?? Another predictions piece?!?" you cry, "We just got done reading the last one!!!" I know, I know. It's been a whopping 3 nights since you last heard from me. I thought midweek league action tomfoolery was done for the year, but this coming weekend's FA Cup semifinals are re-injecting some minor chaos in the fixture calendar. Two matches involving the semifinalists got bumped up to Tuesday and Wednesday, and both of are great import to the stakes of this Premier League season, so a Monday night predictions piece it is.

But first, in case you remember all the way back to this past weekend, a reminder on how my last outing went: not good! I picked almost exclusively draws, and while you might think this was the safe course of action, it proved to be the wrong one. Trent Alexander-Arnold's late winner for Liverpool and Pedro Neto's later winner for Chelsea ruined perfect predictions in those matches, and dominant wins by Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest ruined draw predictions in those matches. Arsenal did in fact beat relegation-destined Ipswich Town to at least deliver me 1 win on the weekend, but my dreadful outing drops me to 72.5/140 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 toeing the .500 line. Here are your 5 for Week 34!

Manchester City vs. Aston Villa

The first match of Week 34 kicks off tomorrow afternoon, and it might be the best of them all: two teams that appeared in this year's edition of the Champions League battling in an incredibly tight race to get back there again next season. Man City's disappointing season has definitely commanded more headlines, but Aston Villa also had an extremely bumpy first half of the season. Both teams, though, have finally hit a hot streak to put themselves in the midst of the Top 5 race; Villa enters this contest as the hotter of the two, in fact, winning each of their Premier League matches since the end of February. This could go any which way, but I think City's finally found their top gear at the right time, and have this one at home, which makes me think they'll eke it out.

The Pick: Man City, 2-1

Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace

Normally, not too many eyeballs outside of London would bother tuning in to this Wednesday night clash, bumped up due to Crystal Palace's involvement in the FA Cup semifinals. Palace have nothing to play for, and Arsenal's full attention at this point, likely, is on the Champions League where they have reached the semifinals for the first time in 16 years. However, should the Gunners lose this contest, the Premier League race will officially be over, as Liverpool's margin would clinch the title. Speaking for most Liverpool fans, this is not what we want; five years after the Reds lifted the trophy to an empty stadium amidst a pandemic, everything is set up for Liverpool to have the dream scenario for their title clinching this time, doing so with a win at home on Sunday in front of their own fans. The dream scenario is so close...which I know means it won't go that way, and Arsenal will lose this one with a likely largely rotated squad. My hopes are buoyed a little by the fact that it's at the Emirate, and Palace surely will care more about the FA Cup a few days later, but every Liverpool fan knows by now to expect it's not going to go the way they want.

The Pick: Crystal Palace, 1-0

Chelsea vs. Everton

Chelsea, amidst enormous late-season turbulence, got a huge monkey off their back in exciting fashion yesterday by finally winning on the road... and with two goals in the last 10 minutes against a fellow Top 5 hopeful Fulham, no less! Liverpool and Arsenal are secure, and 8th/9th place Fulham and Bournemouth probably out of the picture at this point, but there's a good five teams fighting for three spots, all within three points of each other, and Chelsea currently are at the bottom of that logjam, so there's work to be done. Everton under Moyes 2.0 have been a tough out for everyone, including soon-to-be-champions Liverpool, so this may not be easy. But I think the Blues might finally have found some mental toughness yesterday that will be required for this intense closing stretch.

The Pick: Chelsea, 2-1

Newcastle United vs. Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town technically isn't mathematically relegated yet, as they're 15 points behind 17th-placed West Ham, but they're all but eliminated with a goal difference inferiority of -20 vs. the Hammers. Anything but a win in Newcastle officially relegates them, and though they fought bravely amidst their higher-dollar opponents this season, this weekend's 4-0 capitulation vs. Arsenal felt like the Tractors officially throwing in the towel. Newcastle are still in good position for Champions League football, but need a win after their hot streak crashed and burned a few days ago at Villa Park. This could get ugly fast.

The Pick: Newcastle, 6-1

Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur

In the event that the new champion isn't crowned on Wednesday with an Arsenal loss, all eyes will be on Anfield on Sunday to see if the Reds can officially clinch the title in front of a home crowd for the first time in 35 years. Obviously, how this match will play out will depend heavily on whether the title is still in play on Sunday afternoon, but one thing I feel certain in is that the game will not follow the script of "comfortable coronation for Liverpool." By that I mean, if Arsenal lose on Wednesday, I actually don't know if the Reds will bother winning this one, considering they will be hungover from celebrating and have appeared to be operating at 70% effort since February anyhow. And even if the trophy is still in play, I expect Spurs will be fired up to play the role of spoiler and make this more of a contest than anyone thinks they will. That said, in the event a title still needs to be clinched, I just don't see any way Liverpool doesn't win this game. I know I predicted an Arsenal loss on Wednesday, but I'm going to split the difference here in case Arsenal holds up their end of the deal.

The Pick: Liverpool, 3-2