Sutton's Forecasts versus England Gaming Star Daniel 'The Stingray' Ray

The weekend brings the first Wear-Tyne derby after 2024, but which side will celebrate – the Black Cats or Newcastle?

"For most of last season, you couldn't have imagined Sunderland getting promoted and challenging with Eddie Howe's Newcastle, never mind being above them in the table," commented pundit Chris Sutton.

"It is very different now, and the way Sunderland play leads me to believe they've got a real chance."

Sutton is making scoreline guesses for all 380 Premier League games this season, against artificial intelligence, the public and a variety of guests.

For the upcoming matchday, he is challenged by England Gaming star Daniel 'Stingray' Ray.

Ray is vying for victory for the England's esports team – the Football Association's formal esports team – at the football simulation European esports championship finals tournament, which is being held at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

Viewers can catch Uefa's YouTube, Instagram Live and short-form video channels, as well as the official Twitch channel and its YouTube counterpart and England's Twitch.

Do you agree with their forecasts? Feel free to submit your own projections below.

The fan-favourite scoreline picked for each game is used in the tables at the bottom of this page.

A correct result (selecting a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. A perfect prediction earns forty points.

Ray, who competes for his club side and Manchester City as well as England, is competing for the first time at the eEuros finals after getting through the qualification rounds.

Eight players will play for their countries at the finals in a straight knockout, playing for a $100,000 prize pool and a coveted spot in the FC Pro World Championship Play-Ins, with the Danish representative Anders Vejrgang defending the title he won last year.

"I am feeling really good for it," Ray stated. "There's a really good coach alongside me and preparation 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 professional footballer, but when you go into this field and there is an chance to represent England, wearing the Three Lions is something incredible.

"I beat 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 never beaten him in a tournament before.

"In my opinion he is the best player in the world so defeating him in a tournament like this just gives you a huge surge of confidence."

Premier League Predictions

Saturday, 13 December

Chelsea vs Everton

Stamford Bridge, 15:00 GMT

The London club were excellent against the Gunners at the end of November, when they secured a point after going down to 10 men, and it seemed here we go, they could possibly be title contenders.

In the matches following, however, they were beaten physically by Leeds, looked lethargic against Bournemouth and this week got defeated by Atalanta in the Champions League.

So manager Enzo Maresca really needs a win here to restore momentum, but it is a tough ask because Everton are such a dangerous team.

Two of their stars are playing really well and Everton have got a bit of momentum at the moment.

On form you would probably back the visitors, while the most logical prediction would probably be a draw, but I'm going against logic.

Chelsea haven't given me any compelling evidence to back them recently, but I just have a feeling they will take this one because they are at home and they are due a win.

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 am at this game and it will be interesting to see what we get from Liverpool.

It was great to see for Reds boss Arne Slot to get such a great win at Inter Milan on Tuesday after all the stuff with Mohamed Salah this week.

Slot should not have to put up with that nonsense. I know Salah has been a great for Liverpool but fundamentally Slot just wants to win games and there is no bias in his team selection.

They changed their formation against Inter and went with a midfield diamond formation and two up top.

The media 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 says sorry.

Slot's focus will be on winning this game, but it is a challenging encounter.

You could argue it is the same for most teams but I find Brighton so unpredictable. 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 taken out of them.

I've selected a couple of Brighton players in my FPL team, so they will almost certainly blank - 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 opportunity to rest while Newcastle had to battle intensely against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, only to be pegged back late on.

Aside from their superb 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 lack of freshness is likely to be a significant issue in how this game goes because of their rivals' high press.

We saw how relentless Regis le Bris's side are. They bullied the Gunners, and it was a joy to watch.

Everyone talks about how Granit Xhaka has been brilliant for the Black Cats, and he has been brilliant, but Noah Sadiki, who plays alongside him, has also been one of the best acquisitions and deserves some attention too.

This promises to be this being the best game|most exciting fixture