Paul Merson's Premier League predictions - Round Nine

Paul Merson reckons Chelsea, Everton, Swansea and QPR will win live on Sky Sports this weekend - but he suspects under-performing Arsenal will slip up against a Sunderland side that lost 8-0 last weekend...

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Man Utd v Chelsea – 3.30pm, Sun, Sky Sports 1

So much depends on whether or not Diego Costa will be fit for this game. If both him and Loic Remy are out, then Manchester United have a chance. Didier Drogba is not the same player and isn’t going to run away from anybody and if he plays then United can squeeze the game and suffocate Chelsea a little bit.

A lot of people will expect Chelsea to turn up and win and they can’t afford to get complacent because this will be a hard game. I will still just go for Chelsea, but only for a narrow win.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2

QPR v Aston Villa – 7pm, Mon, Sky Sports 1

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If QPR can get anywhere near the standard they played to last Sunday against Liverpool, then they will have a good chance.

I wasn’t impressed with their defending and organisation at the end of the game, but the way they went forward - Bobby Zamora in particular - did impress me.

I think they will beat a Villa team which is struggling at the moment. I worry about the way Villa are losing games because they don’t look like scoring a goal. If QPR are up for it, then they can win this - and then you worry about Villa because they’ll be on that slippery slope.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0

Burnley v Everton – 12.30pm, Sun, Sky Sports 1

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I think Burnley are out of their depth in this league, even with Danny Ings fit again and even when Sam Vokes comes back.

Everton had a big result against Villa last week and you’d like to think they can go on a run now. They will look at Burnley as a chance to get a win and start rolling.

I don’t see how Burnley can cope with Everton and I think it will be quite an easy win, especially with Ross Barkley fit and playing again.

PAUL PREDICTS: 0-3

Swansea v Leicester – 4.45pm, Sat, Sky Sports 1

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I think this will be an easy win for Swansea. Leicester got beat at Newcastle last week and they were very naïve and they should have won the game before that when they drew with Burnley.

Leicester are getting into a little bit of a sticky patch after that win over Man United. Teams have paid a lot more attention to them since then and have looked more closely at certain players. Even though that was a great result, maybe it worked against them.

I thought Swansea were unlucky against Stoke when they went 1-0 up and suffered from a dubious penalty. I expect them to bounce back and win this easily.

PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0

Tottenham v Newcastle

Tottenham came up against a top-drawer centre-forward in Sergio Aguero last weekend, but I expect them to win this week. If you look beyond that they beat Southampton and drew with Arsenal, so the results haven’t been too bad. Newcastle let in too many goals and while they got a big result against Leicester last week, it was nothing to write home about. I think the scoreline covered over a lot of cracks.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0

West Ham v Man City

West Ham is a tough place to go these days. Diaf