Predictions: Jack's Round 36 Premier League Picks

The Premier League Predictor becomes even more difficult in these final few weeks as we attempt to gauge each club's motivation and how that may affect performances, but there's one standout game this weekend which could well be decisive in both the title race and the relegation battle.

I am of course talking about West Ham vs. Arsenal. There isn't a shortage of motivation for either of those!

Last round

A bit of a shocker. I made a dreadful error for the Chelsea match. I'd have had it wrong either way, but having seen the team announcements I thought, ha, this is going the same way for Forest as Villa's rotated lineup did against Tottenham the night before, so switched from 1-1 to a 2-1 Chelsea win.

In the excitement of noticing Forest had picked a B team, I'd forgotten that Chelsea are absolutely terrible nowadays so regretted that fairly quickly when they were already 0-2 down after about 10 minutes. Overall I had just 3/10.

Road the World Cup update

🇨🇴🔑 The Colombia key is yet to be claimed as I'm waiting on the top performer in the round (21 points) to get back to me!

🇨🇮🔑 The Ivory Coast key will be awarded to the top performer in Round 36 as part of our Road to the World Cup campaign.

Here are my thoughts on Round 36!

Liverpool vs. Chelsea

Given my intro, I perhaps don't need to explain why I'm backing Liverpool here. The Reds aren't exactly in a good place themselves but Chelsea losing 6 league games in a row really is a hard to get your head around level of bad. Prediction: Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea

Brighton vs. Wolves

Brighton's good run of form came to an end last weekend but this looks like a kind fixture for them to reignite things for the final three rounds. Wolves are in serious danger of going a whole season without winning away but they do head to Burnley on the final day! Prediction: Brighton 2-0 Wolves

Fulham vs. Bournemouth

I know everyone expected Arsenal to win, but Fulham really were poor in their first half at the Emirates as they offered so little. There's always a chance they'll pull a performance out at Craven Cottage but Bournemouth have had a couple of really good away results in recent games so I'm going with the Cherries to continue that form. Prediction: Fulham 1-2 Bournemouth

Sunderland vs. Manchester United

This is one of those tricky end of season matches where you're wondering if the teams show up with enough intensity. Manchester United's place in the Champions League next season is confirmed after that win over Liverpool (which they made quite hard work of) while Sunderland could technically still secure European football themselves but are hardly surging towards those spots with 1 point from 3 games. I'm going with United as the stronger side but I'm not confident. Prediction: Sunderland 0-1 Manchester United

Manchester City vs. Brentford

Monday was obviously a big disappointment for City but fair play to them and particularly Jeremy Doku for still fighting back to earn a point. This is clearly now a must-win because Arsenal's game at West Ham in this last round is probably their toughest remaining fixture. As Pep Guardiola said himself, Brentford's defence will be similarly stubborn to what we saw from Everton for large parts, but at home City should get the job done. Prediction: Manchester City 3-1 Brentford

Burnley vs. Aston Villa

After a slightly choppy period with rotated lineups leading to underwhelming Premier League appearances, Unai Emery has everyone back on side at Villa with a big Europa League win on Thursday. Of course he does. Now, even if they rotate slightly again, Villa absolutely should be winning this game against Burnley. Prediction: Burnley 0-2 Aston Villa

Crystal Palace vs. Everton

Everton have dropped so many points in their last few games by conceding late goals so that's certainly on my mind with this pick, but that clearly also means that they've been very competitive and I think they might edge this given their good recent record against Crystal Palace. Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-2 Everton

Nottingham Forest vs. Newcastle

This is a tough pick because Forest have been so good lately that they're now very close to being safe, while Newcastle have finally got a win on the board and will want to finish the season strongly. Forest's defeat at Villa on Thursday will have been hard to take but in the league they've been playing much better than Newcastle have in the last month or so. Prediction: Nottingham Forest 2-1 Newcastle

West Ham vs. Arsenal

After such a huge result on Tuesday night, made all the sweeter by the excitement around City's dropped points at Everton on Monday as well, I think Arsenal will win this game. However, I'm miles behind in most of my leagues this year and I'd quite like to see the title race go down to the final day just for the drama, so I'm backing West Ham for a point. This is Arsenal's toughest remaining game in my opinion, so I think the league is theirs if they do win, but the Hammers have been good at home in recent weeks so there is potential for this to be a cracker if the visitors aren't at their best. Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Arsenal

Tottenham vs. Leeds

After 7 points in 3 games, it's hard not to think that Roberto De Zerbi has now turned things around at Tottenham and they have a great chance to pick up 3 more here. Leeds aren't quite safe themselves just yet despite picking up 10 points from the last available 12, so I suppose I shouldn't be ruling them out, but with so much on the line and finally a bit of confidence back I think this will be a home win for Spurs. Prediction: Tottenham 3-1 Leeds

Good luck to you all in Round 36! I'll add a comment for City's extra game against Palace nearer kick-off but I'll almost certainly be going for a home win.