EPL Week 15 Predictions: Premier League Picks, Key Players and Fixture Info

The games are coming thick and fast in English football now, as the Premier League enters its busy December programme.

Chelsea will be hoping to maintain their form through to the Christmas period and currently lead the way on 36 points. The Blues are still undefeated in the league and remain the only team in the top division yet to finish a game empty-handed.

But Manchester City are hot on their heels and will be hoping to close the six-point gap between the clubs during this frantic schedule of games—when the table can change dramatically in a short space of time.

Here we take a look at the next round of fixtures, provide predictions and pick out the week's key players:

Date	Home	vs.	Away	Prediction
Saturday, Dec. 6	Newcastle United	vs.	Chelsea	1-3
Saturday, Dec. 6	Hull City	vs.	West Bromwich Albion	0-0
Saturday, Dec. 6	Liverpool	vs.	Sunderland	2-1
Saturday, Dec. 6	Queens Park Rangers	vs.	Burnley	2-1
Saturday, Dec. 6	Stoke City	vs.	Arsenal	1-1
Saturday, Dec. 6	Tottenham Hotspur	vs.	Crystal Palace	2-0
Saturday, Dec. 6	Manchester City	vs.	Everton	3-1
Sunday, Dec. 7	West Ham United	vs.	Swansea City	1-1
Sunday, Dec. 7	Aston Villa	vs.	Leicester City	2-1
Monday, Dec. 8	Southampton	vs.	Manchester United	1-1

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Chelsea	14	11	3	0	33	11	22	36
2	Manchester City	14	9	3	2	31	14	17	30
3	Southampton	14	8	2	4	24	10	14	26
4	Manchester United	14	7	4	3	24	16	8	25
5	West Ham United	14	7	3	4	23	17	6	24
6	Arsenal	14	6	5	3	22	15	7	23
7	Swansea City	14	6	4	4	19	14	5	22
8	Liverpool	14	6	2	6	19	19	0	20
9	Newcastle United	14	5	5	4	15	17	-2	20
10	Tottenham Hotspur	14	6	2	6	18	21	-3	20
11	Everton	14	4	6	4	24	22	2	18
12	Aston Villa	14	4	4	6	8	18	-10	16
13	Stoke City	14	4	3	7	14	18	-4	15
14	Sunderland	14	2	8	4	13	23	-10	14
15	Crystal Palace	14	3	4	7	18	23	-5	13
16	West Bromwich Albion	14	3	4	7	14	20	-6	13
17	Hull City	14	2	6	6	15	21	-6	12
18	Burnley	14	2	6	6	10	22	-12	12
19	Queens Park Rangers	14	3	2	9	14	27	-13	11
20	Leicester City	14	2	4	8	14	24	-10	10

Key Players

Eden Hazard

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

The biggest compliment you can pay Chelsea and Jose Mourinho is that not much fuss has been made about Eden Hazard this season.

That is deapite the tricky Belgian being in imperious form during Chelsea's opening gambit to the league campaign.

Hazard has once again been producing the kind of displays that have seen him become an integral part of Mourinho's master plan. However, where superstar equivalents like Alexis Sanchez and Sergio Aguero are lauded for their one-man quests to keep their teams winning, Hazard is a cog in a well-oiled machine.

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

The 23-year-old has a richness of talent surrounding him in Chelsea's midfield and attack, allowing him to focus purely on his role in the team, which is to produce moments of magic to open games up. He delivered just that with the opener in Chelsea's 3-0 victory against Tottenham on Wednesday.

As would be expected, Hazard's contribution to the stats has been profound. He has seven goals and three assists in the Premier League and Champions League so far this year, per WhoScored.com, with more surely to come.

This season, Mourinho has used the player predominantly on the left side of a 4-2-3-1. From there, Hazard has the opportunity to drag himself away from the wing position and does not find himself isolated against his marking full-back.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Chelsea play a buoyant Newcastle side in Saturday's early kick-off, and it promises to be one of Hazard and his team's stiffest tests yet.

The Magpies sit an impressive fourth in the Premier League form guide, and the visit of the west London leaders will motivate them hugely.

Hazard is the key in this game, and if he can feed the returning Diego Costa, Newcastle only stand a remote chance of success. But Sunderland recently showed the way to keep Chelsea goalless, and Alan Pardew will be hoping to keep the shackles on the Belgium international.

Sergio Aguero and Alexis Sanchez

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

The "one-man team" tag is used almost every season, but where would Manchester City and Arsenal be without their two protagonists at present?

Sergio Aguero has been plying his trade in England with great success for a while now, but Alexis Sanchez has arrived in the Premier League with a bang.

Both players have kept their teams in the hunt for Premier League glory with their goals this term. This was highlighted by talkSport's Ian Abrahams, who focused on their amazing contributions after Wednesday's action:

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Aguero has really stepped up to the plate this season after seeing much of his campaign wrecked by injury last term. Yet, as City ran away to the title, the Argentine still produced magic when he was on the pitch, helping Manuel Pellegrini capture the championship.

Sanchez has become Arsene Wenger's main man in a very short space of time, and with a lack of depth in Arsenal's striker department, the Chile international has scored goals like a predatory forward.

His last-gasp effort on Wednesday night was enough to see off Southampton and capture a vital three points for his club.

If either of these two players gets injured, their respective club's campaign could derail in spectacular fashion. City need Aguero to be fit for the whole campaign, as the reliance on Yaya Toure is less this year, with the Ivorian currently going through a strange run of form.

Arsenal will have little hope of repeating last season's trophy success if they cannot keep Sanchez on the pitch. He scares defences with his mere presence, and Premier League opponents have not yet worked out how to neutralise his threat.

Aguero and Sanchez are genuine superstars that English football is very lucky to have. This weekend, it's up to Everton and Stoke respectively to stop them.