Premier League Predictions, Weeks 14-15

© Micah Veldkamp, 2025

---

Welcome back to the weekly predictions, Premier League fans! Let me start by addressing the elephant in the room right away: yes, there were no predictions last weekend. I know you spent your holiday weekend fruitlessly scrolling for my latest piece, and, I assume, concluded once you saw it wasn't there that I was opting out as a protest of how Liverpool's season is going.

But the truth is, I really just got caught up in the holiday festivities and lost track of the days! (Though, yes, Liverpool's futility definitely played a part in my general apathy towards the slate of fixtures last weekend.) How about I make it up to you with a supersized piece on a Monday?? Yes, we're into the months of the overstuffed fixture schedule, so even though it's been just over 24 hours since the last match of the weekend ended, we have games again tomorrow and Wednesday, and then AGAIN over the weekend!

Before we launch into the chaos, though, worth noting that I improved ever so slightly in my last time out. Sure, I only actually got 1 prediction right, which was Chelsea's win over Burnley. But the accurate scoreline prediction in that one, as well as in the Fulham-Sunderland and Man City-Newcastle matches (even if I got the winners wrong), at least lifted me to a 2.5/5 week, which is a minor uptick from a quickly slumping trend. Call it Liverpool's win over West Ham: am I back? Hard to say, but it's just nice to not lose. That takes me to 31.5/45 on the year.

But, the matches are less than 24 hours from kicking back off, so let's not waste any more time trying to once again right the ship. Here are your 7 for Weeks 14 and 15!

Newcastle United vs. Tottenham Hotspur

It's one of the more intriguing "bottom half of the table" matchups we've had in some time: the reigning Europa Conference League champions visiting the reigning League Cup champions, two sides with big hopes for this season were over almost before they started, both on 19 points. Unlike Newcastle, Tottenham (11th place, on goal differential) at least looked the part at one point this season, starting incredibly hot under new manager Thomas Frank before a sharp downturn in the last month-plus. But unlike Tottenham, Newcastle (13th place, on goal differential) have reason for optimism based on recent form, unbeaten in their last 3 matches, and with a wild win over Manchester City to boast. That's already a good enough reason to expect a Magpie win tomorrow, let alone the fact that they'll have the backing of a raucous St. James Park.

The Pick: Newcastle, 3-1

Arsenal vs. Brentford

Arsenal's winning streak has slowed ever so slightly, having settled for draws in 2 of their last 3. The good news? They're still 5 points clear at the top, and just made it out of a road match against perhaps their toughest title rival without losing. New-look Brentford has not fallen off nearly as much as preseason prognosticators expected them to, but will present a much easier test for the league leaders at home, I think.

The Pick: Arsenal, 3-0

Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Aston Villa

The byproduct of an extremely tight league-- a mere 8 points separate 2nd place from 16th place --is that teams can play themselves up and down the table very quickly. Case in point: Aston Villa and Brighton spent the first couple months languishing in the bottom half of the table after being very popular "dark horse" picks in preseason. But now? They sit in 4th and 5th place, respectively, ahead of reigning champions Liverpool, and just 6-8 points out of the lead. This is much more where Fabian Hürzeler and Unai Emery expected their sides to be dwelling, and a win for either team in this one could go a long way in dictating their staying power this season. Brighton has the home edge, but I continue to be a bigger believer in the high ceiling Villa has, and I think they'll seize the opportunity in this one.

The Pick: Aston Villa, 2-1

Liverpool vs. Sunderland

Liverpool's last "bad" season was 2022-23, and while the reasons for the letdown this time around might be more understandable and overt, this season thus far has been even more disastrous. I reference that season because one thing I remember from it were the series of "false rebounds": an oasis victory in an otherwise bad stretch that seemed to spell the turnaround was near, but turned out to simply be a distraction from their next bout of losses. If you're wondering if I am declaring Liverpool's win over West Ham on Sunday such a victory...yes, I am. I would love to be wrong, and I do think back-to-back wins for the Reds could be a quietly promising sign for the rest of their season, but Sunderland represents a much tougher test than any of Liverpool's opponents since the last international break. The Black Cats are hungry, and Anfield is not the fortress it once was.

The Pick: Sunderland, 3-2

Aston Villa vs. Arsenal

If the midweek matches mostly feature top of the table sides against bottom half foes, Week 14 kicks off the weekend with a bang. Regardless of how they fare in the tricky trip to Brighton on Wednesday, Aston Villa will come into this fixture in or near the Top 4, and regardless of whether they get tripped up by Brentford, Arsenal will definitely roll into Birmingham as the league leaders. Villa are a side that have tripped up Arsenal consistently, winning 3 of the last 4 in each of the Gunners' last couple title-contending seasons. I don't think they're quite as good as those past teams, and I do think this Arsenal side is different...but I also think an early kickoff, a road match, and Unai Emery are enough of a recipe to confound Mikel Arteta's team.

The Pick: Draw, 1-1

Bournemouth vs. Chelsea

Bournemouth was the story of the league early on; fresh off a slide to end the prior season, and a summer transfer window that saw the departure of their most coveted attacker and nearly their entire defense, they managed to ward off all foes and stay near the top of the league...until it all fell apart. Suddenly, the Cherries are in free fall, having won only once in the last 2 months going into tomorrow's match vs. Everton, and will be aiming to pick the trajectory back up in a home clash with title hopefuls Chelsea. I certainly would rather be a Chelsea supporter than a Bournemouth one, at the moment, as I'd rather be in 3rd place than in 14th. But I do think it's to the South Coasters credit that their guests are likely to get an easy win vs. Leeds in the midweek that will probably lessen their drive to get all 3 points in this one.

The Pick: Draw, 2-2

Manchester City vs. Sunderland

It would be a shock if Manchester City lose to Fulham tomorrow, so it stands to reason that they will still be in 2nd place headed into this Sunday clash, but if Sunderland is in fact able to pull off the upset-- if you can call it that -- at Anfield on Wednesday (as I've predicted they will), this suddenly becomes a much bigger clash. It becomes a Top 4 showdown, with the team still seen as the big bad wolf of the Premier League playing host to the bona fide upstarts, the shocking overachievers. For the purposes of this match, it honestly may serve Sunderland a little better to drop points at Liverpool, as a win will almost surely make Pep Guardiola and City sit up and take notice. But either way, I just struggle to see the Cats being able to quell the City attack and emerging from this gauntlet week unscathed.

The Pick: Man City, 3-1