Premier League & FA Cup predictions: Lawro v boxer George Groves
- Published
BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson is pitting his wits against a different guest each week this season.
His opponent for this weekend's Premier League fixtures is British super-middleweight boxer George Groves, who is a Chelsea fan.
Groves takes on WBA and IBF super-middleweight champion Carl Froch in a rematch at Wembley Stadium on 31 May, after losing their first meeting in a contentious ninth-round stoppage last November.
Football Focus: George Groves gives Premier League predictions
He told BBC Sport: "I've been a Chelsea fan for some time - not just since they got any good!
"One of my earliest memories is sitting on the floor in my Nan's front room watching them win the FA Cup final against Middlesbrough in 1997.
"Seeing Dennis Wise lift the cup that day was pretty sweet and obviously since then I have seen them win a lot more trophies as well.
"My cousins and uncles are season-ticket holders and when I was younger I used to go in with them in the Matthew Harding Stand and get to a few away games as well, which was always good fun.
"But in the last few years, since my boxing has kicked on, I have struggled to get down to Stamford Bridge as much as I'd like."
You can see all of Groves' predictions on Football Focus at 12:00 BST on Saturday on BBC One and the BBC Sport website (in the UK).
He is also predicting some success for himself in the ring against Froch. "Ultimately, it's a one horse race," he said. "I think I will knock him out within three rounds."
Premier League predictions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Score | Lawro | Groves | |
SATURDAY | |||
Crystal Palace v Aston Villa | 1-0 | 2-1 | 1-0 |
Fulham v Norwich | 1-0 | 2-0 | 1-0 |
Southampton v Cardiff | 0-1 | 2-0 | 2-0 |
Stoke v Newcastle | 1-0 | 2-0 | 1-2 |
Sunderland v Everton | 0-1 | 0-2 | 0-1 |
West Brom v Tottenham | 3-3 | 1-1 | 2-2 |
SUNDAY | |||
Liverpool v Man City | 3-2 | 1-1 | 1-3 |
Swansea v Chelsea | 0-1 | 1-1 | 0-4 |
A correct result (ie picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth ONE point. A correct score earns THREE points.
Groves did not make any predictions for the FA Cup semi-finals, but will hope to do better against Lawro than Froch fared in December 2012. Froch, a big Nottingham Forest fan, got only one result correct out of 10.
FA Cup predictions | ||
|---|---|---|
Score | Lawro | |
SATURDAY | ||
Wigan v Arsenal | 1-1 (Arsenal win 4-2 on pens) | 0-2 |
SUNDAY | ||
Hull v Sheff Utd | 5-3 | 2-1 |
Last weekend, Lawro got six correct results from 10 Premier League games, with one perfect score. His tally of eight points saw him beat MOTD pundit Alan Shearer, who got four correct results, with no perfect scores, giving him a total of four points.
We're keeping a record of the totals for Lawro and his guests (below), and showing a table of how the Premier League would look if all of Lawro's predictions were correct (at the bottom of the page).
Totals after week 33 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 249 |
Guests | 162 |
LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS
All kick-offs 15:07 BST unless otherwise stated.
SATURDAY
Crystal Palace 1-0 Aston Villa
Fulham 1-0 Norwich
Southampton 0-1 Cardiff
Stoke 1-0 Newcastle
Sunderland 0-1 Everton
West Brom 3-3 Tottenham
Wigan 1-1 Arsenal (FA Cup semi-final) Arsenal win 4-2 on pens
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
SUNDAY
Liverpool 3-2 Man City
Swansea 0-1 Chelsea
Hull 5-3 Sheff Utd
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P33 | W22 | D2 | L9 |
SCORE | GUEST LEADERBOARD |
|---|---|
12 | Nicky Wire |
11 | Susanna Reid |
10 | Usain Bolt, Tim Key* |
9 | Charlotte Green, Camp Bastion troops |
7.55 | Lawro (average after 33 weeks) |
7 | Danny John-Jules, Steve Wilson |
6 | Katy B, John Bishop, Kevin Clifton, Gaz Coombes, Alistair McGowan, Joe Montana, Greg James, Alan Shearer |
5 | Geraint Thomas*, Sam Tomkins, The National |
4 | David Baddiel, David Cameron, Guy Mowbray, Jason Sudeikis, Eliza Doolittle |
3 | Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Kaiser Chiefs, Woody* |
2 | Sam Bailey, Cal Crutchlow, Gail Emms, Jim Kerr, David Schneider |
1 | Michael Palin, Vic Reeves |
0 | Josh Franceschi |
* Does not include scores for postponed games
Lawro's best score: 16 points (week 21 v Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone)
Lawro's worst score: 3 points (week 26 v Geraint Thomas, before postponed games are played)
ARROWS DENOTE DIFFERENCE TO REAL TABLE | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | DIFF | +/- |
1. | Man City | 32 | 29 | 3 | 0 | 90 | +2 | |
2. | Chelsea | 33 | 25 | 6 | 2 | 81 | 0 | |
3. | Man Utd | 33 | 23 | 7 | 3 | 76 | +4 | |
4. | Liverpool | 33 | 21 | 9 | 3 | 72 | -3 | |
5. | Arsenal | 33 | 17 | 12 | 4 | 63 | -1 | |
6. | Tottenham | 33 | 16 | 5 | 12 | 53 | 0 | |
7. | Everton | 33 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 48 | -2 | |
8. | Southampton | 33 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 47 | 0 | |
9. | Stoke | 33 | 10 | 7 | 16 | 37 | +1 | |
10. | Swansea | 33 | 10 | 7 | 16 | 37 | +5 | |
11. | Norwich | 33 | 10 | 7 | 16 | 37 | +6 | |
12. | Aston Villa | 32 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 36 | +1 | |
13. | West Brom | 32 | 9 | 8 | 15 | 35 | +3 | |
14. | Newcastle | 33 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 34 | -5 | |
15. | West Ham | 33 | 9 | 7 | 17 | 34 | -3 | |
16. | Fulham | 33 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 33 | +4 | |
17. | Crystal Palace | 33 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 31 | -1 | |
18. | Hull City | 33 | 6 | 10 | 17 | 28 | -4 | |
19. | Sunderland | 32 | 3 | 9 | 20 | 18 | 0 | |
20. | Cardiff | 33 | 1 | 11 | 21 | 14 | -2 | |
- Published11 April 2014
- Published4 March 2014
- Published7 April 2014
- Published31 March 2014
- Published22 March 2014
- Published15 March 2014
