Monday 12 February 2018 08:02, UK
Paul Merson is back with another round of his Premier League predictions - how will he fare this week?
Merse is in the hotseat again for a bumper line-up of top-flight action this week after predicting one perfect score and four correct results last weekend.
The Soccer Saturday pundit got Liverpool's dramatic 2-2 draw with Spurs spot on, and also correctly predicted wins for Arsenal, Manchester United, Bournemouth and Brighton.
Who does the Magic Man predict this weekend? Read on to find out...
Chelsea need to win, they just need to win. That's what it has come to now. You looked at the Bournemouth and Watford games and thought there are six points to cement the top four and concentrate on Barcelona in the Champions League.
Now you've got fixtures of Barca, Man Utd, Man City, Barca after West Brom - it could all go Pete Tong very quickly. If they don't win, you don't see how they're going to finish in the top four with the games coming up.
Alan Pardew is going to put 10 behind the ball, and keep it very tight for 20 minutes and hope the fans get restless. They'll look at what Bournemouth did, but without the same pace on the counter-attack I don't see how they can hurt Chelsea.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (7/1 with SkyBet)
This is a bit of a home game for Arsenal due to their Wembley record. They've lost six away games this season, but have got one of the best records at Wembley in recent years.
Spurs' Wembley record is better than it was, but Arsenal have the ammunition to hurt them. If Wenger turned round and said: 'Aubameyang, Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Ramsey, you four go and get on with it', and the other six keep it tight then I would give them a great chance. But the two Arsenal full-backs will be playing as wingers after five minutes and you know they'll be all over the shop defensively.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-2 (10/1 with SkyBet)
Palace have just had two draws and a battering by Arsenal. I'm going to go with Everton to win - without Wilfried Zaha I think Palace will struggle, and they'll be back in a relegation battle.
Everton have got home advantage, it's a big match and Sam Allardyce seems to win big games at home when they need to get a result. The other week they played at home and won against Leicester. They'll have enough to get out of trouble.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (17/2 with SkyBet)
Stoke had a good win and then drew with Watford, and that was a bad result for me. People look at it and think it's not too bad, another clean sheet, but following that up with a defeat means you're back in a bit of trouble. It was a bad result for Stoke to lose at Bournemouth.
Brighton struggle away from home. I thought they played well at Southampton the other week but sat back when they went in front and I think they'll do that again, whether they're leading or not.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (8/1 with SkyBet)
Burnley have found their position now and are finding their results. They had an unbelievable start and were punching above their weight. They had a good result against Manchester City, but they faced a lot of chances.
Swansea have got some major momentum, even in the cup with the second-string out, and there's a bit of a buzz about the place. Carlos Carvalhal's done a phenomenal job, but he needs to keep them up or it becomes a job similar to Marco Silva at Hull.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (17/2 with SkyBet)
West Ham had a bad result against Brighton but David Moyes has done well overall, and I don't think the speculation about him this week will hurt them. They've got to get back and win, and I think they will.
Watford had a great result against Chelsea, but that was their first for a long time. It does give them a little breathing space, though. They were the team on the glass mountain with moccasin slippers on; it looked like they'd never stop sliding but that was a massive result.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (10/1 with SkyBet)
Man City have got to put their chances away, that wins you matches and it's not happening at the moment. They're doing enough, though, and I can't see anything but a home win.
There's no Riyad Mahrez so I can't see how Leicester can realistically hurt Man City. They're not going anywhere - they're not getting relegated or going into the top six - they're a prime FA Cup team. Other sides in relegation trouble will be looking at them later in the season and going: 'when have we got Leicester at home?'.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (13/2 with SkyBet)
Six or seven weeks ago Huddersfield would be highlighting this game as one to win, but Bournemouth are seven games undefeated. If you gave Huddersfield this position at the start of the season, with 12 games to go, they'd have gone: 'right, we'll start from here'.
If Bournemouth are anywhere near the level they had at Chelsea, they'll win comfortably. They thought they could just turn up against Stoke but they turned it back around there too.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3 (20/1 with SkyBet)
Manchester United are just efficient, aren't they? They played a weakened Huddersfield at home and fell over the line - you could not come off that pitch and say they could have won by nine, but they were efficient.
Newcastle have got a chance, because Manchester United won't blow you away. Rafa Benitez is one of the best managers at setting teams up not to lose games, and with players like Jamaal Lascelles at set-plays, you never know.
PAUL PREDICTS: 0-2 (11/2 with SkyBet)
I was a bit disappointed with Liverpool last weekend, they were given the runaround in the second half by Spurs and didn't know what to do. In big matches they generally turn up, and I haven't seen too many teams do that to them.
With Southampton, it's down to results earlier in the weekend. Depending on what happens they might be able to stick 10 behind the ball and go for a 0-0, and it might be a bonus. They had a massive result at West Brom last week. I think Liverpool will win, but it could easily be 1-1.
Southampton are nowhere near the worst team, but they could have won more easily - I think they set up too negatively at home when they have got the players to have a go. They could upset a few teams if the reins were off.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (15/2 with SkyBet)
