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The weekend sees the initial Wear-Tyne derby since 2024, but will it be – the Black Cats or Newcastle?

"Throughout the majority of last season, you couldn't have imagined Sunderland getting promoted and being competitive with Eddie Howe's Newcastle, never mind being above them in the table," commented football expert Chris Sutton.

"Things are very different now, and the way they play makes me think they've got a solid shot."

He is offering scoreline guesses for all 380 Premier League games this season, against artificial intelligence, readers and a variety of guests.

For this weekend's fixtures, he faces off against England Gaming star Daniel 'Stingray' Ray.

Ray is competing for honours for the national gaming squad – the Football Association's formal esports team – at the EA Sports FC European esports championship finals tournament, which is being held at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

You can watch Uefa's video platform, IG Live and short-form video channels, as well as the official Twitch channel and YouTube and the national team's Twitch.

Are you in alignment with their forecasts? You can make your own predictions below.

The most commonly selected scoreline selected for each game is featured in the leaderboards at the bottom of this page.

Predicting the right outcome (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth ten points. The exact score earns forty points.

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

The final eight competitors will represent their nations at the finals in a single-elimination, competing for a six-figure prize fund and a coveted spot in the global championship qualifiers, with Denmark's Anders Vejrgang defending the title he won last year.

"I am feeling really good for it," Ray said. "I've got a really good coach with me and practice has been going well.

"It's always an honour to play for your country. Naturally when you are younger, you imagine doing it as an professional footballer, but when you enter this profession and there is an opportunity to represent England, wearing the Three Lions is something unique.

"I defeated Vejrgang 9-4 in qualifying to get here. I've played against him recently 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 crazy boost of confidence."

Premier League Weekend Preview

Saturday, 13 December

Chelsea vs Everton

Stamford Bridge, 15:00 GMT

The London club were impressive against Arsenal at the end of November, when they earned a stalemate after being reduced to 10 men, and many thought here we go, they could possibly be challengers for the crown.

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

So manager Enzo Maresca desperately requires a win here to return to winning ways, but it will be a challenge because Everton are such a threatening team.

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

On form you would likely back the visitors, while the most logical prediction would likely be a draw, but I am not going to be sensible.

They have not given me any compelling evidence to back them recently, but I just have a hunch Chelsea 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'm attending this game and it will be interesting to see what we get from the Reds.

I was delighted for Reds boss Arne Slot to get such a important victory at Inter Milan on Tuesday following all the controversy with Mohamed Salah this week.

Slot ought not to put up with that drama. I know Salah has been a legend for the club but fundamentally Slot just wants to win games and there is no bias in his team selection.

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

Everyone is going to be talking about whether Salah is selected for this game, but the only way he is going to be reintegrated is if he makes amends.

Slot's attention will be on winning this game, but it is a difficult fixture.

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 defensively susceptible too.

Liverpool need to get back to stringing wins together, but I am not sure how much their exertions at the San Siro will have taken out of them.

I have whacked a couple of Brighton players in my Fantasy Premier League side, so they will probably lose now - but I do fancy 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

Sunderland have had the benefit of a free week while Newcastle had to exert themselves against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, only to concede a late equaliser late on.

Apart from their brilliant performance against Everton a couple of weeks ago, Newcastle's away form has been poor, especially straight after they've played in the Champions League.

I am expecting that pattern to continue on Sunday, and their fatigue is likely to be a significant issue in how this game goes because of their rivals' high press.

We saw how unwavering Regis le Bris's side are. They dominated the Gunners, and it was amazing to watch.

Commentators talks about how Granit Xhaka has been outstanding 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 warrants praise too.

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