Chris Sutton's Forecasts against English Gaming Prodigy Daniel 'Stingray' Ray

Sunday brings the inaugural Wear-Tyne derby after 2024, but who will emerge victorious – Sunderland or the Magpies?

"During the bulk of last season, it was unthinkable Sunderland rising to the top flight and being competitive with Eddie Howe's Newcastle, much less being above them in the table," commented pundit Chris Sutton.

"The situation is very different now, and the way Sunderland play makes me think they've got a genuine opportunity."

Sutton is making forecasts for all 380 Premier League games this season, against artificial intelligence, readers and a assortment of guests.

For this weekend's fixtures, he takes on England Gaming star Daniel 'Stingray' Ray.

Ray is vying for victory for the England's esports team – the Football Association's recognised esports team – at the EA Sports FC European esports championship finals tournament, which will occur at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

The action will be streamed on Uefa's video platform, Instagram Live and short-form video channels, as well as EA Sports FC Twitch and YouTube and England's Twitch.

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

The most popular scoreline selected for each game is featured in the tables at the end of this page.

A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth ten points. An accurate scoreline earns forty points.

Ray, who represents Gen City and Manchester City as well as England, is entering the fray at the eEuros finals after successfully navigating the preliminary stage.

A group of eight will play for their countries at the finals in a straight knockout, vying for a six-figure prize fund and a prestigious spot in the global championship qualifiers, with Denmark's Anders Vejrgang defending the title he won last year.

"My mindset is really good for it," Ray remarked. "There's a really good coach alongside me and training has been going well.

"It is invariably an honour to play for your country. Naturally when you are younger, you dream about doing it as an professional footballer, but when you pursue a career in this field 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 over the course of the season just in practice, and in other tournaments before - but I'd always lost to him in a tournament before.

"In my opinion he is the top competitor in the world so beating him in a tournament like this just provides a crazy boost of confidence."

Premier League Forecasts

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 going down to 10 men, and many thought they've turned a corner, 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 boss Enzo Maresca desperately requires a win here to return to winning ways, but it will be a challenge because the Toffees are such a potent team.

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

Based on recent performances you would probably back the visitors, while the most prudent prediction would probably be a draw, but I'm throwing caution to the wind.

Chelsea haven't given me any compelling evidence to back them recently, but I just have a gut instinct Chelsea will win this match because they are at home and they are overdue a victory.

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 intriguing to see what we get from Liverpool.

I am really pleased for Reds boss Arne Slot to get such a important victory at Inter Milan on Tuesday following all the discussion with Mohamed Salah this week.

Slot shouldn't need to put up with that distraction. I know Salah has been a icon for the club but at its core Slot just wants to win games and there is no bias in his team selection.

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

All the talk is going to be talking about whether Salah is back 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 mercurial. I always feel they have got a goal in them, but they are quite open 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 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

Sunderland have had the opportunity to rest while Newcastle had to work so hard against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, only to let their lead slip away late on.

Aside from their superb performance against Everton a couple of weeks ago, Newcastle's away form hasn't been great, especially straight after they've played in the Champions League.

It is anticipated that that tendency to continue on Sunday, and their lack of freshness is likely to be a key element in how this game goes because of their rivals' intensity.

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

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

All signs point to this being the best game|most exciting fixture