Prediction favouring English players (8)
I believe the answer is:
forecast
'prediction' is the definition.
(forecast is a kind of prediction)
'favouring english players' is the wordplay.
'favouring' becomes 'for' (I've seen this before).
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'players' becomes 'cast' (I've seen this before**).
'for'+'e'+'cast'='FORECAST'
(Other definitions for forecast that I've seen before include "Predict as with weather" , "Expect" , "Meteorological surmise perhaps" , "Prophecy" , "tip" .)