The holiday schedule returns with a compact Gameweek 18 that will stretch squad resources and test form. Below are concise match previews and score predictions for each fixture.<\/p>\n
Man Utd vs Newcastle (Prediction: 2\u20132). Manchester United have drawn their last two home games and could be pushed to a third stalemate. Their attacking output has been strong at times but defensive issues remain, compounded by injuries to Bruno Fernandes, Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire and the absence of Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui on international duty. Newcastle have been inconsistent away, having won just once in the league this season.<\/p>\n
Nottingham Forest vs Man City (Prediction: 1\u20133). Manchester City arrive in excellent form, with seven successive victories and three consecutive clean sheets. They have also progressed to the Carabao Cup semis and moved up in the Champions League table. Erling Haaland continues in prolific goalscoring form. Forest won this fixture last season 1\u20130 but are likely to find this visit tougher.<\/p>\n
Arsenal vs Brighton (Prediction: 2\u20130). Arsenal have regrouped after defeat in early December and have secured narrow but vital wins. They will be slightly more fatigued after their Carabao Cup quarter-final with Crystal Palace but are favoured. Brighton have not won in four matches and lost to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup at the Emirates.<\/p>\n
Brentford vs Bournemouth (Prediction: 2\u20131). Bournemouth are eight matches without victory and have slipped down the table. Brentford ended a four-game winless run by beating bottom-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers and have a strong home record.<\/p>\n
Burnley vs Everton (Prediction: 0\u20131). Burnley halted a seven-game losing streak with a late draw at Bournemouth but remain in deep trouble. Injuries and Africa Cup of Nations absentees will complicate Everton\u2019s festive period under David Moyes, but Everton are favoured to take three points.<\/p>\n
Liverpool vs Wolves (Prediction: 2\u20130). Liverpool have shown defensive vulnerability even in recent wins but arrive on the back of three straight victories and an unbeaten run of six matches, despite the blow of a devastating injury to Alexander Isak.<\/p>\n
West Ham vs Fulham (Prediction: 2\u20132). West Ham are without a win in six and Nuno Esp\u00edrito Santo is under pressure. Fulham have consecutive league wins but have managed only two away victories and are missing key Nigerian players due to AFCON.<\/p>\n
Chelsea vs Aston Villa (Prediction: 1\u20131). Villa beat Manchester United last Sunday and are three points behind the leaders. Chelsea showed resilience in a comeback draw at Newcastle; a draw looks the likeliest outcome.<\/p>\n
Sunderland vs Leeds (Prediction: 1\u20130). Promoted Sunderland and Leeds have each taken eight points from their last five matches. Sunderland\u2019s home form of five wins and three draws from eight makes them favourites and they remain sixth in the table.<\/p>\n
Crystal Palace vs Tottenham (Prediction: 1\u20131). Both sides are out of form. Tottenham slipped to 14th after a heavy defeat to Liverpool and have just one win in their last eight league games. Palace have struggled for intensity with a congested schedule.<\/p>\n
Predicted results recap: Man Utd 2\u20132 Newcastle; Nottingham Forest 1\u20133 Man City; Arsenal 2\u20130 Brighton; Brentford 2\u20131 Bournemouth; Burnley 0\u20131 Everton; Liverpool 2\u20130 Wolves; West Ham 2\u20132 Fulham; Chelsea 1\u20131 Aston Villa; Sunderland 1\u20130 Leeds; Crystal Palace 1\u20131 Tottenham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gameweek 18 predictions: fixtures, form and score forecasts for the Premier League holiday programme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1344,969],"tags":[1211,1066],"class_list":["post-5393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gameweek-18","category-premier-league","tag-africa-cup-of-nations","tag-carabao-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}