The top three — Arsenal, Manchester City and Aston Villa — are all in action on the first Saturday after Christmas as the Premier League title race hots up. Here are all of our expert soccer picks for the weekend action in England, with the odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at the time of publishing.
EPL Best Bet: Arsenal win & Under 3.5 Goals (+108)
Arsenal are atop the league at Christmas and can take a giant step in maintaining its top spot heading into 2026 by seeing off Brighton at The Emirates. Mikel Arteta’s men ushered in the festive season with a 1-0 win at Everton to stay clear of the chasing pack, and should have more than enough about them to see off a depleted Albion. However, if we’ve earned anything from recent weeks, it’s that wins are becoming hard to come by and defenses are tightening up. Expect this success to be another low-scorer.
Each of the Gunners’ last 6 matches, which includes 4 wins, have been in games featuring 3 goals or less and that may very well be the case here, too. Brighton certainly looked short of teeth in attack at the weekend, as they labored to a 0-0 draw at home to Sunderland — which made it 4 without a win for Fabian Hurzeler’s men.
Read our full Arsenal vs Brighton prediction
EPL Best Bet: Fulham ML over West Ham (+155)
December has been a tough month for West Ham, and the pain may not be over just yet. The Hammers have been through a tough run of games against the likes of Bournemouth, Liverpool, Villa and Manchester City, so it’s probably no surprise they are without a win in 6 matches. Unfortunately for them, 3 points from a possible 18 has seen them sink deeper into trouble, whereas Fulham — another relegation contender — have picked up 5 wins in their last 8, including each of their last 2.
The pick of those triumphs was surely the 2-1 win at Tottenham, which they followed with a 3-2 win at Burnley. Suddenly, the team with a woeful away record has started to pick up points on the road. Confidence is low at West Ham, and there is definitely more than enough about Marco Silva’s men to suggest they can claim a 3rd away success in a month.
EPL Best Bet: Wolves +1.5 over Liverpool (+110)
Here’s a left-field pick, but there are definitely grounds for thinking Wolves will not get swamped at Anfield. Certainly, Liverpool are in decent enough form with 3 straight wins, though they made hard work of winning 2-1 at Tottenham despite playing against 10 men for over an hour. The win came at a cost, as Alexander Isak was injured. The Swede and Mo Salah are among the only premier scoring threats for the Reds, so Arne Slot’s attack could be thin.
Wolves are poor, of that there’s no doubt. Eleven straight losses cannot be embellished in any way. They are in a real rut. However, 5 of the last 10 losses have been by 1-goal score lines, and there was some real gutsiness in their truly luckless 2-1 defeat at Arsenal. Boss Rob Edwards and cheerleader-in-chief Matt Doherty have demanded more fight like that, and I expect to see it at Anfield — where they can at least win some self-respect if not 3 points.
EPL Best Bet: Sunderland ML over Leeds (+155)
Sunderland continue to defy the odds, and we’re at the point now where nothing they achieve should be seen as a surprise. Their last 2 home games have yielded wins against Bournemouth and Newcastle; before that they drew with Arsenal.
They have lost only 2 of 10, whereas Leeds have won only 1 (at Wolves) of 9 away games in all competitions without a single clean sheet.
Read our full Sunderland vs Leeds prediction
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