Merson's predictions: Chelsea and Manchester City to get back to winning ways

Paul Merson expects a draw between Stoke City and Manchester United in Sky Sports' live New Year's day clash - but wins for Man City and Chelsea. Scroll down to see his thoughts on all of Thursday's games.

Stoke City v Manchester United (12.30pm, Sky Sports 1)

I very rarely go against Stoke at home, they had a great result the other day at Everton, played well against Chelsea and I do not think that Man Utd are as great as everyone says they are.

They have just been to Tottenham and drawn 0-0 and this is a harder ground to go to in my opinion, so I think it will be a draw and I am going to go 1-1.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1 (Sky Bet odds 5/1)

Aston Villa v Crystal Palace

Aston Villa had a couple of chances at Swansea, should have had a stonewall penalty the other week, but then [Fabian] Delph getting sent off does not do them any favours. That is a bad, bad loss for Villa, and for him really as he was playing well, his contract is up at the end of the season and he might have thought he would go in January. I do not know if he will now.

I think this is a hard game for Villa as one thing that Palace have got is pure pace on the break with [Wilfried] Zaha, [Yannick] Bolasie and [Jason] Puncheon, who will cause them problems. I do not think that there will be much between these two teams, so I am going to go 1-1 again.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1 (Sky Bet odds 9/2)

Hull City v Everton

I am going to stay on the fence again here with my third 1-1 in a row. I cannot believe how bad Everton have been, I think people have found out how they play, as they have not changed, which is not good.

And Hull had a great result last week at Sunderland and then followed it up with a shocker against Leicester. If they had won that game then they would probably have won this one and gone mid-table, but now I think this will be a draw.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1 (Sky Bet odds 9/2)

Liverpool v Leicester City

Liverpool are looking dangerous at the moment. Raheem Sterling has got pace, which opens the game up for other players to get on the ball.

Leicester had a great result the other day at Hull which has kept them in it. If they had lost that I would probably say they would have been relegated, but if you can stay just three or four points adrift then you always have a chance.

But even if Leicester do cause Liverpool’s defence some problems, then Liverpool will cause them more problems, so I cannot see anything other than a 3-0 win to Liverpool.

PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (Sky Bet odds 9/1)

Manchester City v Sunderland

Sunderland are the team that nearly stopped Man City winning the league last year, but this is City all over, I think they think it is too easy. They play against the top teams and are outstanding, then they play against the ‘lesser’ teams and think they will beat them easily. And that draw with Burnley on Sunday was the shocker of all shocking results.

They never