Newcastle shock City; Rashford fires again as Man United gain ground: PL predictions

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Each week, The National predicts the results of the English Premier League. This week, web editor Jonathan Raymond guest predictions a midweek special, with five matches scheduled between Tuesday and Thursday, foreseeing a Liverpool triumph in the Merseyside derby and a win for Manchester United. Here are our results for the season.

Newcastle United 2-1 Manchester City

Weird things happen in a relegation battle, and Man City are a team who have run hot and cold all season long. This could wind up looking really, really silly, but City – who have, to be clear, been excellent of late – have the Champions League to think about and something sparked inside of Newcastle in their 3-0 win over Swansea at the weekend that’s been missing for about two years. Let’s be bold and say Rafa Benitez has a trick up his sleeve for this relegation fight.

West Ham United 2-0 Watford

West Ham were robbed of a critical two points against Leicester City on Sunday, and with four successive draws now it would seem their outside hopes of leapfrogging into the top four are gone. But a clear chance to pick up three against FA Cup-prioritising Watford at home should be motivation enough for a club who still would probably like to at least secure Europa League football for next season.

Liverpool 3-1 Everton

Jurgen Klopp is finally beginning to clearly leave his imprint on this team, and it has been an impressive reconfiguring to watch. Liverpool feel like a side who could spring four or five at any moment, as they very well did in shocking Borussia Dortmund to get to the Europa League semis. Three will do just fine in the Merseyside derby as they continue to sneakily stalk the top four.

Manchester United 1-0 Crystal Palace

A 1-0 win against woeful Aston Villa didn’t exactly sound alarms throughout the rest of the top-four contenders, especially coming off a comprehensive capitulation to Spurs the match before. But United do not need to be all that pretty or, frankly, good to get one over on Palace at Old Trafford. Whiz-kid Marcus Rashford plays the hero again.

Arsenal 0-1 West Bromwich Albion

Most of the season, it felt like various Arsenal disappointments that had some screaming “here we go again!” were being overblown. The “Arsenal will collapse because they always collapse” crowd were ignoring that this was a different team, a quality team largely playing consistently well with some of the best talent in the Premier League. But after the West Ham capitulation and the utter listlessness of their draw with Palace, it seems maybe ... the “Arsenal will collapse because they always collapse” crowd was right. It feels like this squad are in the midst of giving up on Arsene Wenger. Maybe it’s what the club even need, to finish outside the top four and get on with a true reckoning.