3 bold Premier League predictions for the rest of the season, by our Sport Editor

The Premier League 2025/26 season is stewing nicely as we enter the second half of the campaign with skirmishes breaking out across the division.

Arsenal continue to set the pace from the front but they still haven't managed to shake off the spectre of Manchester City – or Aston Villa, for that matter.

Below them, nine points separate fourth and 15th, five points divide fifth and 12th – whichever way you slice it, the middle of the pack is brutally congested. Each win means more than ever, each defeat leaves deeper scars.

At the bottom, Wolves are biting back despite their dire predicament, though Burnley are floundering on their return to the big time and West Ham look dead in the water – but is there a sting in the tail?

RadioTimes.com brings your our top three predictions for the remainder of the Premier League season.

Wolves won't finish bottom

You can almost tangibly see when a team knows they're gone – West Ham players shaking their heads after the defeat to Nottingham Forest was that moment.

The truth is, they actually played quite well in front of a dwindling home crowd in that must-win clash. Ironically, that will have made it an even tougher pill to swallow. When good performances lead to bad defeats, you know the end is nigh.

Contrast the mood around the soulless vacuum of the London Stadium with Molineux, where green shoots are already poking through the ground.

Chief vibesman Rob Edwards will know he is heading back to the Championship, but that acceptance around the club actually liberates Wolves to tinker and prepare for what comes next.

Rather than panic-buying and thrashing around in bitter denial (The West Ham Way?), Wolves are so far behind they seem to have already entered the healing process.

Take Mateus Mane, for example. It's unlikely Edwards would have risked starting a green teenager in the crucible of an active relegation battle. However, the liberation of accepting Wolves' fate has led to an opportunity.

Two weeks after his first ever professional start, Mane is everywhere. He's being linked to Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle. And Wolves fans have hope again.

There are shreds of belief around Molineux, not that they can stay up, but belief that all is not lost, there's life after the Premier League and it could lead to a few tidy results on their way down. That feeling will not be replicated at West Ham, who look utterly broken and could tumble to the very foot of the table.

Leeds will finish in the top 10

I hold my hands up, I was one of those edgy people who thought Leeds should ditch Daniel Farke immediately upon promotion last season.

It sounds strange considering Leeds won the second tier with 100 points and 95 goals to their name, but Farke-ball was starting to look out of fashion: possession-based and stubborn.

We've seen 'philosophy' managers come up in recent years, stick to their guns, try to play Premier League teams at their own game and lose spectacularly.

Leeds earned promotion and Farke attempted to stick to his guns. It didn't work. However, with the vultures circling overheard in early December, Farke did what Russell Martin, Vincent Kompany, Ruben Amorim and countless others have been too proud to do: he changed the tune.

Out went the 4-3-3 possession-based game, in came the 3-5-2 and, most importantly, a shift to quicker build-ups, direct, counter-attacking football with pace and relentless running at opponents. It has worked.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has thrived on increased deliveries into the box, Anton Stach is growing into the season at the core of the midfield and a three-man mountain range at the back has proven difficult for teams to traverse.

All things considered, expect Leeds, playing a style that will appeal to the Elland Road masses, to be one of the teams to watch between now and May. With the table so tightly congested in the middle, they could be a dark horse for the top 10.

Manchester City will win the Premier League

Too many people are sleeping on Manchester City in the Premier League title race, but we have seen this before and you can never count them out of the hunt until it's mathematically over.

City won all of their seven matches across all competitions in December, keeping four clean sheets in that time.

Sure, they stumbled against a resolute Sunderland side on New Year's Day and were unfortunate to concede a last-ditch equaliser at home to Chelsea, perhaps in part due to a few inevitably tired legs from the sapping clash on Wearside just days earlier.

Talk of City's stuttering form is overblown, their recent results are fairly easy to explain away. They are more-or-less tracking Arsenal's movement at the top of the table despite the Gunners hitting top gear.

Once Erling Haaland hits a rich seam of goals and Arsenal suffer a shock defeat along the road, people will realise how close the title race actually is. And City have the know-how and experience to chase, catch and accelerate away at the top.

While every other pundit seemed to be debating how many points Liverpool would win the league by, I actually did tip Arsenal to win the title before the season kicked off, and they've done nothing wrong so far, but that's my point. Arsenal have looked faultless so far, yet they find themselves just a few points ahead of City.

I sincerely hope Arsenal do continue their form and lift the trophy. It would be good for competition and hopefully inspire more close races to come, but if faults do creep into the Gunners' game, City are right there, poised and ready to pounce at a moment's notice. I suspect they will do exactly that in the closing stages of the campaign.

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