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This Sunday heralds the first Wear-Tyne derby since 2024, but who will emerge victorious – the Black Cats or Newcastle?
"During the bulk of last season, you couldn't have imagined the Wearside club earning promotion and being competitive with Eddie Howe's Newcastle, let alone being above them in the table," stated analyst Chris Sutton.
"Things are very different now, and the way Sunderland play leads me to believe they've got a genuine opportunity."
He is offering scoreline guesses for all 380 Premier League games this season, in competition with artificial intelligence, the public and a assortment of guests.
For the upcoming matchday, he takes on England Gaming star Daniel 'Stingray' Ray.
Ray is vying for victory for the eLions – the Football Association's official esports team – at the EA Sports FC digital Euros finals tournament, which will occur at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.
You can watch Uefa's YouTube, Instagram Live and TikTok channels, as well as EA Sports FC Twitch and its YouTube counterpart and England's Twitch.
Are you in alignment with their scores? You can make your own predictions below.
The most popular scoreline selected for each game is featured in the tables at the end of this page.
Getting the win/draw/loss right (selecting a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. A perfect prediction earns forty points.
Ray, who represents Gen City and Manchester City as well as England, is competing for the first time at the eEuros finals after successfully navigating the qualification rounds.
The final eight competitors will play for their countries at the finals in a knockout format, vying for a $100,000 prize pool and a coveted spot in the global championship qualifiers, with Denmark's Anders Vejrgang looking to retain the title he won last year.
"My mindset is really good for it," Ray stated. "I have a really good coach alongside me and training has been going well.
"It is invariably an honour to play for your country. Of course when you are younger, you dream about doing it as an actual footballer, but when you enter this profession and there is an opportunity to represent England, wearing the Three Lions is something incredible.
"I defeated Vejrgang 9-4 in qualifying to get here. I've played against him throughout the year just in practice, and in other tournaments before - but I'd not previously defeated him in a tournament before.
"For me he is the top competitor in the world so getting a win over him in a tournament like this just delivers a huge surge of confidence."
Premier League Predictions
Saturday, 13 December
Chelsea vs Everton
Stamford Bridge, 15:00 GMT
The London club were impressive against the Gunners at the end of November, when they earned a stalemate after being reduced to 10 men, and I was thinking here we go, they could potentially be challengers for the crown.
Since then, however, they were overpowered by Leeds, looked flat against Bournemouth and this week got turned over by Atalanta in the Champions League.
So boss Enzo Maresca desperately requires a win here to return to winning ways, but it won't be easy because the Toffees are such a dangerous team.
Two of their stars are playing at the top of their game and Everton have got a bit of a positive run at the moment.
Current evidence suggests you would probably back the visitors, while the most prudent prediction would likely be a draw, but I'm going against logic.
Chelsea haven't given me any good cause to back them recently, but I just have a feeling they will win this match because they are at home and they are in need of three points.
Sutton's prediction: 2-1
Stingray's prediction: With this being at the Bridge, I am going to back Chelsea. I think they will start off really well and go 2-0 up, then Everton will nick one back but then Chelsea score late. 3-1
AI's prediction: 2-0
Liverpool vs Brighton
Anfield, 15:00 GMT
I'm attending this game and it will be intriguing to see what we get from Liverpool.
It was great to see for Reds boss Arne Slot to get such a important victory at Inter Milan on Tuesday after all the discussion with Mohamed Salah this week.
Slot should not have to put up with that distraction. I know Salah has been a great for Liverpool but essentially Slot just wants to win games and there is no ulterior motive in his team selection.
They changed their tactical setup against Inter and went with a midfield diamond formation and two up top.
All the talk is going to be talking about whether Salah is included for this game, but the only way he is going to be brought back into the fold is if he makes amends.
Slot's focus will be on winning this game, but it is a tough one.
You could argue it is the same for most teams but I find Brighton so hard to predict. I always feel they have got a goal in them, but they are quite open too.
The Merseysiders need to get back to a consistent run of form, but I am not sure how much their efforts at the San Siro will have affected their stamina.
I put a couple of Brighton players in my FPL team, so they will likely do poorly - but I do fancy them to get something at Anfield.
Sutton's prediction: 2-2
Stingray's prediction: This is a game which is going to give Liverpool a bit more of their confidence back. Obviously they had a good win in midweek and they can build more momentum here. 2-1
AI's prediction: 3-1
Sunday, 14 December
Sunderland vs Newcastle
Stadium of Light, 14:00 GMT
The Wearside club have had the benefit of a free week while Newcastle had to battle intensely against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, only to concede a late equaliser late on.
Apart from their excellent performance against Everton a couple of weeks ago, Newcastle's away form has been inconsistent, especially straight after they've played in the Champions League.
It is anticipated that that trend to continue on Sunday, and their fatigue is likely to be a factor in how this game goes because of Sunderland's energetic style.
We saw how incessant Regis le Bris's side are. They bullied the Gunners, and it was a joy to watch.
Many pundits talks about how Granit Xhaka has been phenomenal for the Black Cats, and he has been superb, but Noah Sadiki, who plays alongside him, has also been one of the signings of the season and deserves some attention too.
This promises to be this being the best game|most exciting fixture
