Premier League Predictions & News

Premier League Betting Tips for Thursday 1st January

4 hours ago

| BY Sam McLoughlin

This midweek will see the Premier League get underway for Gameweek nineteen of this campaign, with the table starting to take shape and a few teams already upsetting the apple cart, we’re all set for another night of pure PL drama.

@Footy_Tipster gives his best predictions ahead of this round of fixtures in the English Premier League..

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The Premier League will kick off 2026 with four games on New Years Day.

At 5.30pm, Crystal Palace and Fulham go head-to-head in an all-London affair, whilst Leeds make the trip to Merseyside to face Liverpool at Anfield.

Later that evening at 8pm, the second London derby of the day will take place with Brentford welcoming Tottenham Hotspur, whilst Manchester City make the trip north to face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Now, let’s take a closer look at some Premier League odds and Premier League betting angles for Thursday’s fixtures:

Crystal Palace v Fulham – Thursday, 5.30pm

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Crystal Palace will be hoping to start 2026 by putting an end to this awful run of form as the Eagles seem to be in freefall, they’ve now gone five games in all competitions without a victory with questions being asked over the depth of Oliver Glasner’s side.
The Eagles return to home soil where they’ve actually not won any of their five outings in all competitions and history suggests that the wait for a win here at Selhurst Park could continue as they’ve won just four of their last twenty home league games in January.
Crystal Palace are winless in all six of their Premier League games played on New Year’s Day (D3 L3), with their last win in the top-flight coming against Notts County in 1992, whilst they’ve failed to win any of their last four meetings against Fulham on home soil.
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Fulham start the New Year with another London derby having just come back from a 1-0 victory on the road at West Ham, that’s now three wins in their last three Premier League away games for Marco Silva’s side.
The Cottagers head into Thursday’s game in twelfth place and only behind Crystal Palace on goal-difference, they’ve won their last three PL outings but only once before have they won four in a row in the Premier League, that came back in December/January 22/23.
Fulham lost this reverse fixture towards the start of December but given the form of the Eagles right now, i’m going to back a draw in this one as i really don’t think there’s too much between the two sides.

Prediction: Draw, Crystal Palace 1-1 Fulham.

Liverpool v Leeds – Thursday, 5.30pm

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Liverpool made it four wins in a row on Saturday with a 2-1 victory against Wolves at Anfield, once again the Reds had to do it without Mo Salah with the Egyptian king participating in AFCON.
Arne Slot will be hoping his side can continue their fine form at the start of 2026 especially as they enter Thursday’s fixture in the top four and have the chance here to put a five-point gap between themselves and Chelsea in fifth.
Liverpool have won five of their last six Premier League games on New Year’s Day (D1), with their last defeat coming at home to Chelsea back in 2005 and whilst the reverse fixture finished 3-3 a few weeks ago, the Reds have scored 19 goals in their last five Premier League matches against Leeds (W3 D1 L1).
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The pressure had been ramped up now on Daniel Farke but that noise all seems to have gone quiet following a five game unbeaten run (W2, D3) which includes games against Liverpool, Chelsea and most recently their 1-1 draw against high-flying Sunderland.
The Whites have now extended their gap to the bottom three to six points and will be hoping to keep this form going and head towards safety in a season in which a lot of people had tipped them to head back down to the EFL Championship.
The concerning news for Leeds is simply their away form hasn’t been good enough, they’ve won just one of their first nine Premier League away trips this season and despite picking up three points here back in 2022, Liverpool should get the win.

Prediction: Liverpool To Win & Over 2.5 Goals, Liverpool 3-1 Leeds.

Brentford v Tottenham – Thursday, 8pm

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Brentford will be looking to continue their two-game unbeaten run at the start of 2026, especially as they’ll be welcoming their former manager Thomas Frank back to West London for the first time.
Keith Andrews’ side have the fourth best home record in the league having lost just one of their nine games here so far (W6, D2, L1), only Aston Villa, Manchester City and Arsenal have a better home record in the Premier League this season.
However, history of this fixture shows that the Bees tend to struggle against Spurs, having won just one of their previous fourteen meetings and losing each of the last four top-flight games between the two sides.
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Tottenham Hotspur will start the New Year on the road and given they come into this one fresh off the back of a 1-0 victory away to Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon, another away trip might be welcomed.
The pressure is really on Thomas Frank with Spurs starting 2026 in thirteenth place but one thing they do have so far this season is the best away record (W5, D2, L2), taking seventeen points from a possible twenty-seven.
Tottenham Hotspur have played eight London derbies on New Year’s Day in the league previously and only lost once (W5 D2), a 3-0 defeat to West Ham in 1983. In the Premier League, they’ve won both January 1st London derby games, i’m going to back Spurs to continue that trend.

Prediction: Both Teams To Score & Tottenham To Win, Brentford 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur.

Sunderland v Man City – Thursday, 8pm

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Sunderland continued their impressive start to this Premier League campaign, the Black Cats extended their unbeaten run to three games with a draw here against Leeds on Sunday despite losing key players to AFCON.
The Black Cats return to the Stadium of Light where they’ve had real success so far this season, they remain just one of two sides (Arsenal) that are yet to taste defeat on home soil in the league.
However, that may come to an end on Thursday evening with Sunderland losing their last three Premier League home games against Man City, having won four in a row against them at the Stadium of Light before this.
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Manchester City will be hoping to keep the pressure on leaders Arsenal at the start of 2026 and Pep Guardiola’s side tend to kick-on properly after the Christmas period so this is a big game for the Cityzens as they can close the gap to two points with victory.
Speaking of form, the Cityzens have now won each of their last eight games in all competitions after their 2-1 victory against Nottingham Forest on Saturday and that form is expected to continue, with City winning each of their last eight meetings against Sunderland.
Manchester City have won their first league game in 18 of the last 19 calendar years, including the last 13 in a row. The only exception in this run was a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland on New Year’s Day 2012, so i’m backing an away win.

Prediction: Manchester City To Win To Nil, Sunderland 0-2 Manchester City.

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