The Premier League title race is only just getting started, but can anyone stop BBC football expert Chris Sutton’s charge to victory when it comes to predictions?
Sutton has declared himself “the one and only” after seeing off Chesney Hawkes in the festive fixtures – the fifth successive week he has won the battle with his guests. He now leads 11-5 overall.
“Should I be handed the title now?” asked Sutton. “I think am actually nine ahead technically, because some weeks I have beaten two guests, not just one. If my lead gets to double figures, they are not coming back from that.”
Sutton is making predictions for every top-flight game this season against a range of guests.
You can take him on too, using the voting buttons for each game below, and so far you have made more correct predictions than Sutton or his guests have managed from the 156 Premier League games that have been played this season.
For the latest set of fixtures, from 30 December to 1 January, he is up against Afrobeats star and Manchester United supporter Maulo.
Maulo’s latest single, Roll It, was featured on Radio 1’s Future Artists slot by Jack Saunders. He will be releasing a new EP alongside his debut headline show in 2023.
Maulo was one of the musicians who made World Cup predictions for the BBC. He was wrong, sadly, when he picked England to win it, but still enjoyed the tournament.
“It was the best World Cup I’ve ever seen,” he told BBC Sport. “There were so many great games where either side could win, and then the final was absolutely amazing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever watched a match as intense as that. It felt like no-one knew what the outcome was going to be, until the very last minute.
“Growing up, I’ve always been more of a Cristiano Ronaldo fan than Lionel Messi, so part of me didn’t want Messi to win it. But take that out of it and it was just a brilliant game to enjoy – it’s mad to think how many people were watching it around the world.”
There was no shortage of entertainment either when the Premier League returned this week. Maulo no longer has Ronaldo to cheer on at United but Marcus Rashford has hit the ground running since his return from Qatar.
“Rashford has come back firing,” Maulo added. “He is just a man on a mission at the moment. He was the same at the start of the season for United but he kept it up right through the World Cup and he has not stopped yet.
“He looks like he is having fun again and enjoying his football, which is great to see – especially from United’s point of view.
“After a difficult start, it feels like the manager Erik ten Hag is doing a great job too.
“He’s dealing with superstars and is trying to build a team so it’s not realistic to expect him to just come in and have success straight away, but it really feels like we are heading in the right direction – the sky’s the limit, really.”
| Result | Sutton | Maulo | |
| FRIDAY, 30 DEC | |||
| West Ham v Brentford | 0-2 | 1-1 | 2-0 |
| Liverpool v Leicester | 2-1 | 3-1 | 2-0 |
| SATURDAY, 31 DEC | |||
| Wolves v Man Utd | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1-3 |
| Bournemouth v Crystal Palace | 0-2 | 1-1 | 1-2 |
| Fulham v Southampton | 2-1 | 2-0 | 2-2 |
| Man City v Everton | 1-1 | 5-0 | 3-0 |
| Newcastle v Leeds | 0-0 | 2-0 | 2-0 |
| Brighton v Arsenal | 2-4 | 2-1 | 1-2 |
| SUNDAY, 1 JAN | |||
| Tottenham v Aston Villa | x-x | 2-2 | 1-2 |
| Nott’m Forest v Chelsea | x-x | 1-2 | 1-0 |
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.
SUTTON’S PREDICTIONS
Games kick off at 15:00 GMT unless otherwise stated
FRIDAY, 30 DECEMBER
West Ham 0-2 Brentford
Sutton’s prediction: 1-1
Maulo’s prediction: 2-0
Liverpool 2-1 Leicester
Sutton’s prediction: 3-1
Maulo’s prediction: My dad is a Liverpool fan so I’ve watched them quite a bit. Darwin Nunez always looks like he is going to score goals. 2-0
SATURDAY, 31 DECEMBER
Wolves 0-1 Man Utd
Sutton’s prediction: 1-2
Maulo’s prediction: I’d love to say 10-0 to United with Rashford scoring six but I’m going to try to be realistic here! We don’t know how Wolves will approach this but they will be full of belief under Lopetegui so this is going to be difficult for us. I’m still going for a United win, though! 1-3
Bournemouth 0-2 Crystal Palace
Sutton’s prediction: 1-1
Maulo’s prediction: Palace are a strange team. I’ve watched them quite a lot and one minute they look like they are on fire, then the next minute they are really struggling. They seem to struggle against the smaller teams but I am going to go with them to win this time. 1-2
Fulham 2-1 Southampton
Sutton’s prediction: 2-0
Maulo’s prediction: I always used to love watching Fulham when Scott Parker was playing for them. They are doing pretty well at the moment, especially in attack with Aleksandar Mitrovic in form, but I think Southampton might surprise a few people here. 2-2
Man City 1-1 Everton
Sutton’s prediction: 5-0
Maulo’s prediction: There are going to be a few goals here, all of them from City and at least one by Erling Haaland. Everton have got no threat, really. 3-0
Newcastle 0-0 Leeds
Sutton’s prediction: 2-0
Maulo’s prediction: Leeds have got a great work rate but Newcastle are doing so well and I am expecting them to carry on doing what they are doing. 2-0
Brighton 2-4 Arsenal
Sutton’s prediction: 2-1
Maulo’s prediction: The break for the World Cup could have hurt Arsenal but they looked pretty good against West Ham. 1-2
SUNDAY, 1 JANUARY
Tottenham v Aston Villa (14:00 GMT)
I just don’t know what to expect from Tottenham. For a team that is fourth in the table, they are extremely inconsistent and very unconvincing at times.
Which Spurs side will turn up here, why does their manager Antonio Conte always say they are tired and why do they go behind in games so often?
Aston Villa were well beaten by Liverpool in the end but they were pretty lively going forward.
So, I have a sneaking feeling this will end up in a draw, although I suppose that is mostly because I have no idea what kind of performance we will see from Tottenham.
Sutton’s prediction: 2-2
Maulo’s prediction: 1-2
Nottingham Forest v Chelsea (16:30 GMT)
Chelsea got a much-needed win over Bournemouth last time out, and they deserved it too.
Nottingham Forest huffed and puffed a bit against Manchester United without ever really looking like they would get anything out of the game.
Chelsea’s biggest issue this season has been goalscoring but Forest have got bigger problems in that department and they don’t have enough of a threat up front.
It feels like Forest’s hopes of staying up rest on their home form, because they are so poor away, but I can’t see them picking up any points this time. I’m going for a narrow Chelsea win.
Sutton’s prediction: 1-2
Maulo’s prediction: I’ve got to say that I am a big Jesse Lingard fan. He’s had a difficult time since joining Forest so it’s been great to see him back among the goals again and I’d love to see him get the winner here. 1-0
Chris Sutton and Maulo were speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.
How did Sutton do last time?
From the festive fixtures played between 26 and 28 December, Sutton got five correct results from 10 matches, including one exact score, giving him a total of 80 points.
He beat singer Chesney Hawkes, who also got five correct results, but with no exact scores, for a total of 50 points.
| Ali Bruce-Ball | 110 |
| Ian Broudie, GK from Bad Boy Chiller Crew, Kasabian’s Serge Pizzorno, Editors bassist Russell Leetch, Aaron Moorhead, Phoenix singer Thomas Mars | 70 |
| Chris Sutton (average after 16 weeks) | 66 |
| Ross MacDonald from The 1975, Ryan Porteous | 60 |
| Justin Benson, Al Greenwood from Sports Team, Dapz on the Map, Chesney Hawkes | 50 |
| Blake Bowman, Tom from Dry Cleaning | 40 |
| Jessica McHale, Olivia Chomczuk | 30 |
| Juice Menace, Patrick Whelan | 20 |
| Chris Sutton | 1,110 |
| Guests | 1,000 |
How did you get on?
Only 13% of you went for a Fulham win over Crystal Palace but, otherwise, you did pretty well with seven correct predictions.
| Position | Correct results |
| 1. You* | 7/10 |
| =2. Chris | 5/10 |
| =2. Chesney Hawkes | 5/10 |
*Win, draw, loss prediction based on highest % of vote for each match.
| 1. You | 83/156 (53%) |
| 2. Chris | 78/156 (50%) |
| 3 Guests | 75/156 (48%) |
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