Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches again this season, against a variety of guests.
For the fixtures taking place over the turn of the year, from 30 December to 2 January, he takes on Shed Seven singer and song-writer Rick Witter, who is a Manchester United fan.
Shed Seven’s new album, A Matter of Time, is released on 12 January.
Sutton’s prediction: 0-1
This is a huge game for Arsenal now, after their defeat by Crystal Palace.
The Gunners are widely considered to be a bit more streetwise than they were last season, but they have 10 fewer points after 19 games than they did at this stage of the 2022-23 campaign, when they were out in front for so long.
This time, they are playing catch-up to Liverpool, with Manchester City also ahead of them after winning their game in hand.
So, the Gunners have to respond here… and I think they will. Fulham have hit a bit of a bump in the road with three straight defeats, but it is not long since they were flying and scoring loads of goals.
Fulham will make it hard for them, but I think Arsenal will find a way of winning this one – they really have to.
There’s been plenty of talk already about how Mikel Arteta needs to sign another striker in January to push on in the second half of the season. Brentford‘s Ivan Toney has been linked for a while now but he’s not played for months because of his suspension. He will have been training, but how much match sharpness does he have?
Arsenal are trying to win the title this season, so they haven’t got time to wait for anyone to get up to speed. If we are looking at the names that are supposedly within their grasp then Bournemouth Dominic Solanke stands out as the best candidate for me.
Rick’s prediction: Fulham’s form has dropped off a bit, but they have still had a good month in terms of scoring goals. I was looking at my Fantasy team and thinking about sticking a few of their forwards in it. I am still backing Arsenal to edge it, though. 1-2
Read the rest of their predictions here