Chelsea bounce back at Leicester, Manchester United edge rivals Liverpool — Premier League predictions

Ahead of the latest round of Premier League fixtures, Thomas Woods provides his predictions for all 10 matches.

Tottenham 2 West Bromwich Albion 0

Why? Spurs have the best defence in the league and Dele Alli, with seven goals in his last four games, is in red-hot form. They should be too strong for the visitors. West Brom, despite an outstanding season, have lost every time they have faced a top-six side and this will be no different.

Burnley 1 Southampton 2

Why? Burnley's home record is the best outside the top five, with seven wins from 11 games, but Southampton have the weapons to undo them. They are decent passing side and players like Dusan Tadic and Nathan Redmond have that bit of flair to make the difference.

Hull City 1 Bournemouth 1

Why? Hull have had no luck this season, with several decent performances still resulting in defeat. This is a must-win game for them with matches against Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal coming up. Yet if those goes anything like their season so far, they will go 1-0 up, miss a few chances and have to settle for a draw.

Sunderland 1 Stoke City 1

Why? Sunderland have lost four of their last six, winning just once but Stoke have a similar record. Their win at home to Watford last week was their first in six games. This could be scrappy, Sunderland don't really have much quality all round while Stoke have resorted to playing Peter Crouch up front.

Swansea City 1 Arsenal 3

Why? Arsenal should be looking forward to their trip to Swansea. Olivier Giroud is in superb form, Alexis Sanchez should run rings round the home defence and it Arsenal should run out comfortable winners.

Watford 1 Middlesbrough 0

Why? It feels like it is time for Watford's centre-forward partnership that was so successful last season to click. Troy Deeney has only scored once in the last 13 league matches, Odion Ighalo hasn't scored since September 10. Something has to change.

West Ham United 2 Crystal Palace 2

Why? With star player Dimitri Payet effectively going on strike over his desire to leave the club, West Ham are going to struggle to get a victory here. He is their key creative player, but they will be encouraged by the fact that Swansea managed to put two goals past a pretty slack Palace defence last week.

Leicester City 0 Chelsea 1

Why? Leicester are a tough side to make predictions about because they have generally been pretty poor, but the memories of last season — and the 4-2 win over Manchester City — still linger. Chelsea will slip up at some point on the road, but without Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani, a lot is resting on the shoulders of Jamie Vardy for Leicester.

Everton 1 Manchester City 3

Why? The 5-0 FA Cup win over West Ham last week was a reminder of just how dominant this City side can be when it all clicks. They should carry that form into this encounter against an Everton side who beat Arsenal and Southampton in their last two home games. But City's midfield will run the show here.

Manchester United 2 Liverpool 1

Why? If both teams were full strength, Liverpool would get something at Old Trafford but two key factors swing this in United's favour. Firstly, Sadio Mane is away at the Africa Cup of Nations and his direct ball carrying will be missed. Secondly, Philippe Coutinho is unlikely to hit his stride straight away after a long injury lay-off. United, meanwhile, are firing on all cylinders.