Sutton and Courteeners frontman Liam Fray issue Premier League opening-weekend predictions
Chris Sutton and Courteeners frontman Liam Fray made Premier League opening-weekend predictions for BBC Sport in a feature published on 21 August 2026, speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan. The pair set out score forecasts for the first round of fixtures and matched wits with AI, BBC readers and other guests.
Sutton will again predict all 380 Premier League results this season against Microsoft Copilot Chat, BBC Sport readers and invited guests after AI finished top of the BBC predictions league at the first attempt last season. "It was a final-day defeat for me, that is how close I came to the title," Sutton said. "So, was I hacked too? It sounds like cheating to me - if so, then last season should really go down as a victory for me." The AI predictions were generated using Microsoft Copilot Chat by asking the tool to "predict this weekend's Premier League results" and the scoring system awards 10 points for a correct result and 40 points for an exact score.
Fray, whose band Courteeners have a new single Plus One Forever taken from their forthcoming 'best of' compilation God Bless The Band due on 28 August, is a self-declared Manchester United fan and voiced optimism about the club under Michael Carrick. "I am pretty excited," he told BBC Sport. "Listen, we are not going to be challenging for the title because we are not at Arsenal or Manchester City's level, but I think we will be up there - and I love Carrick." Courteeners play a sold-out homecoming show at Wythenshawe Park on 29 August before a nationwide arena tour in November.
Fray returned to the predictions column after a successful previous appearance in which he beat Sutton for the weekly win and scored 150 points, finishing top of the guest leaderboard for the 2024-25 season. "That means this is a free hit this time," he said. "Even if I get everything wrong, there is no pressure." BBC readers can submit score forecasts too, with the most popular scoreline used to calculate the readers' points total.
On Arsenal and Coventry, Fray praised Arsenal's Community Shield performance and singled out Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis, saying Tzolis "looks the part" and noting Daniel Farke had earlier praised him at Norwich. He described Coventry's opening trip to the Emirates as a "nightmare" for Frank Lampard and recalled completing a Merlin sticker album as a child when Coventry had Roy Wegerle and Steve Ogrizovic. Liam's prediction for that tie was 3-0.
Discussing Hull and Manchester United, Fray said Hull would be "horrible to play against" under Sergej Jakirovic and acknowledged United will be stretched by competing in the Champions League while praising the signing of Youri Tielemans. He suggested United are "nowhere near Arsenal at the moment" and left them out of his top four; his prediction for that fixture was 0-3. On Marcus Rashford's future he said: "I love Marcus, and the fact he is one of ours, and I would love him to come back and be as good as he was for us. We know what a player he can be and if anyone can get it out of him at United, it is Michael Carrick - he might know exactly what Marcus needs."
Fray set out a series of other opening-weekend forecasts alongside brief assessments: he predicted Palace v Everton 1-1 while saying Palace have "serious firepower" and Everton must find goals from Cherno Barry and Beto; he tipped Ipswich to be involved in an open game and gave the scoreline 2-2, citing signings such as Daizen Maeda; he backed Nottingham Forest to edge a 3pm game 2-1 and noted Morgan Gibbs-White and Callum Hudson-Odoi remain important for them. For Spurs v Brentford he went 1-2 and praised Sandro Tonali and defensive additions at Spurs; he forecast Aston Villa to beat Brighton 1-2 while detailing Villa losing Morgan Rogers and Tielemans; his Manchester City v Bournemouth scoreline was 3-0 with a note on the new stand being open; Newcastle v Liverpool he put at 1-2 and he predicted Chelsea to win at Fulham 0-2, commenting on Xabi Alonso's arrival.
Readers who want to take part can play BBC Sport's new Match of the Day predictor game every week, which features six fixtures from domestic and European competitions and offers a way to compare scores with Sutton, Fray, AI and other BBC readers.
