- Published
Manchester City have won their first seven Premier League games of the season but will their 100% record survive Saturday's trip to an improving Aston Villa side?
asserted
record → publish → side
"Villa have beaten City in this fixture in each of the past three years under Unai Emery," said BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton.
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Sutton → beat → Emery
"They will fancy it this time too - they are seven unbeaten in all competitions, and flying at the moment.
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they → fancy → moment
"
Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against AI, BBC Sport readers and a variety of guests.
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Sutton → make → guests
For week eight, he takes on Waffle the Wonder Dog and his owner Simon, who is played by actor James Merry.
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who → take → Merry
Waffle's After School Club, featuring James and Waffle, is available on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer right now, with lots of fun after-school adventures for families to enjoy together.
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families → feature → adventures
Do you agree with their predictions?
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you → agree → predictions
You can pick your own below.
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You → pick → own
The most popular scoreline selected for each game is used in the scoreboards and tables at the bottom of this page.
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scoreline → select → page
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points.
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result → pick → win
The exact score earns 40 points.
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score → earn → points
You can play BBC Sport's new Match of the Day predictor game every week, featuring six fixtures from domestic and European competition.
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You → play → competition
Waffle is a talking dog whose adventures on his show often end in chaos for Simon and the rest of his family.
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adventures → talk → family
Like most dogs, he loves football - or at least loves chasing one.
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he → love → one
"I am an enthusiastic baller," Waffle told BBC Sport.
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Waffle → tell → Sport
"My fur is red and I am a poodle so of course I support the Reds, or Liverpoodle as I like to call them - they never walkies alone.
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they → support → them
In real life, actor James Merry is an Aston Villa fan, who has a long connection with the club.
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who → have → club
"I grew up in Sutton Coldfield, north Birmingham, and just about everyone is Villa there," he told BBC Sport.
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he → grow → Sport
"My mum's side of the family are all fans - my great-aunt was a season-ticket holder for about 40 years and my nan lived most of her life on Witton Road, which is just round the corner from Villa Park.
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which → live → Park
"My first job was there too - when I was 16 I worked in the catering department serving burgers on matchdays.
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I → work → matchdays
"Then, during the summer I had to clean every executive box and polish all the cutlery and make sure everywhere was properly stocked.
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everywhere → have → cutlery
We had the run of Villa Park and I was like a kid in a candy shop."
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I → have → shop
Chris Sutton, Waffle the Wonder Dog and James Merry were speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
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Sutton → speak → Bevan
The AI predictions were generated using Microsoft Copilot Chat - we simply asked the tool to 'predict this weekend's Premier League scores'.
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we → generate → scores
Portman Road, 20:00 BST
So, I am up against a talking dog this week?
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I → talk → dog
I'm not sure that improves my chances of winning - I've been barking up the wrong tree with my predictions all season anyway.
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I → improve → predictions
One of us has got to beat AI though - I've been reading about it in the news and it is not just with football scores where it seems to be taking over.
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it → get → scores
This game is a tough one to call, though.
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game → call → ?
It is going to be very tight.
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It → go → ?
Nottingham Forest can't score.
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Forest → score → ?
That's their issue, and they have only managed five goals in their first seven league games.
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they → manage → games
It did make me laugh when I read that Forest boss Oliver Glasner had got Chris Wood to give advice to the other strikers about finishing - why not just play Wood then?
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Wood → make → Wood
Ipswich are still bottom of the league table based on my predictions (see bottom of page) but they ran Manchester City close in the end last week and are doing better than everyone expected, myself included.
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myself → base → end
I like what Tractor Boys boss Gary O'Neil is doing there, and they already have three league wins from seven games - the last time they were in the Premier League, in 2024-25, they only managed four all season.
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they → like → four
Forest are second bottom and could really do with getting something here, and Ipswich haven't drawn a game yet - so that's what I am going for.
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I → do → what
The director of Waffle, Tim Hopewell, is a Forest fan and I have gone for them here.
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I → go → them
I like the way they play.
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they → like → way
1-2
AI's prediction: 1-1
Saturday, 24 October
Villa Park, 12:30
Villa have hit a bit of form and seem to be getting back to the level they were at last season.
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they → hit → level
They had another good win in the Champions League this week, but then you'd expect them to beat Viking pretty comfortably.
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them → have → Viking
Emery's side played well against Newcastle last week too but I thought Newcastle were a bit too gung-ho, and paid the price.
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Newcastle → play → price
…and 77 more, not listed.
The Aporia
