FA Cup and Premier League predictions: Lawro v Wade Barrett

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BBC Sport expert Mark Lawrenson

BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson is pitting his wits against a different guest each week this season.

Lawro's opponent for this weekend's FA Cup semi-finals and Premier League fixtures is WWE wrestling star Wade 'Bad News' Barrett.

Media caption,

WWE wrestling star Wade 'Bad News' Barrett gives his predictions

Barrett is a lifelong Preston fan who has trained with the team and invited some of their players along to the 'WWE Live' show in Manchester last weekend.

"I went out in front of the crowd and kind of disrespected Manchester United and Manchester City to all of the Manchester fans," Barrett told BBC Sport.

"I told them it was about time they saw what a real team looked like, at which point I brought the Preston boys out on to the stage.

Image source, WWE
Image caption,

Barrett and the Preston players got a hot reception from United and City fans last week

"Of course we were roundly booed by everybody, and then I went down to the ring and started beating people up. It was a lot of fun."

It is not the first time Barrett has clashed with United - in February he had a light-hearted run-in on social media with Wayne Rooney about the striker's controversial penalty at Deepdale in the FA Cup fifth round.

"We had put in an amazing performance but Wayne ruined it all by diving for that penalty in the dying minutes," Barrett explained.

"So I called him out and offered to fight him, at which point he decided he wanted 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin as a tag-team partner.

"I brought in my own partner, Preston striker Kevin Davies, and as far as I was concerned everything was set. But then Wayne went very quiet. I think he knows he is a beaten man but hopefully one day we will catch up with each other."

FA Cup semi-final predictions

Result

Lawro

'Bad News'

SATURDAY

Reading v Arsenal

1-2 (AET)

0-2

1-3

SUNDAY

Aston Villa v Liverpool

2-1

0-1

0-2

You can see all of 'Bad News' Barrett's predictions on Football Focus at 12:10 BST on BBC One and the BBC Sport website (in the UK).

Premier League predictions - Week 33

Result

Lawro

'Bad News'

SATURDAY

Crystal Palace v West Brom

0-2

1-1

3-2

Everton v Burnley

1-0

2-0

4-1

Leicester v Swansea

2-0

2-1

0-1

Stoke v Southampton

2-1

1-2

1-1

Chelsea v Man Utd

1-0

1-1

3-1

SUNDAY

Man City v West Ham

2-0

2-0

2-2

Newcastle v Tottenham

1-3

1-1

1-0

A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth ONE point. Getting the exact score correct earns THREE points.

Last weekend, Lawro got five correct results from 10 Premier League games, with three perfect scores.

His score of 11 points saw him beat The Vaccines singer Justin Young, who picked seven correct results, but with only one perfect score. That gave him a total of nine points.

We are 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).

Total scores after week 32

Lawro

230

Guests

226

LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS

SATURDAY

Crystal Palace 0-2 West Brom

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

'Bad News' Barrett's prediction: 3-1

Match report

Everton 1-0 Burnley

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

'Bad News' Barrett's prediction: I am a Preston fan so it is my job to hate Burnley. 4-1

Match report

Leicester 2-0 Swansea

Lawro's prediction: 2-1

'Bad News' Barrett's prediction: 0-1

Match report

Stoke 2-1 Southampton

Lawro's prediction: 1-2

'Bad News' Barrett's prediction: 1-1

Match report

Reading 1-2 Arsenal (AET)

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

'Bad News' Barrett's prediction: 1-3

Match report

Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

'Bad News' Barrett's prediction: 3-1

Match report

SUNDAY

Man City 2-0 West Ham

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

'Bad News' Barrett's prediction: 2-2

Match report

Aston Villa 2-1 Liverpool

Lawro's prediction: 0-1

'Bad News' Barrett's prediction: 0-2

Match report

Newcastle 1-3 Tottenham

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

'Bad News' Barrett's prediction: 1-0

Match report

Lawro v Guests

P32

W14

D4

L14

SCORE

GUEST LEADERBOARD

17

Kieran Shudall

12

Mark Ronson

11

Steph Houghton

10

Liam Fray, Rachel Riley

9

Kelly Smith, Phil 'The Power' Taylor, Justin Young

8

Death in Paradise, Roddy Doyle, Tim Henman, Olly Murs, Dermot O'Leary, Henning Wehn, Benedict Wong

7.18

Lawro (average after 32 weeks)

7

Miles Jacobson, Ossie Ardiles, Seann Walsh

6

Carl Fogarty, George Ford*, Football Manager, Mark Wright & Karen Hauer, Steve Wilson

5

Joe Cole, The Eggheads, Sarah Harding & Leon Fagbemi, Van McCann, Adil Ray

4

Kell Brook, Guy Mowbray

2

John Cooper Clarke, Neil Lennon, Jack O'Connell

* Does not include scores for postponed game - Leicester v Chelsea

Lawro's best score: 17 points (week seven v Ossie Ardiles)

Lawro's worst score: 2 points (week 20 v Steve Wilson)

ARROWS DENOTE DIFFERENCE TO REAL TABLE

POS

TEAM

P

W

D

L

PTS

DIFF

+/-

1.

Chelsea

31

28

3

0

87

0

2.

Man City

32

26

6

0

84

+2

3.

Arsenal

32

22

8

2

74

-1

4.

Man Utd

32

20

7

5

67

-1

5.

Liverpool

32

18

11

3

65

0

6.

Southampton

32

15

8

9

53

0

7.

Everton

32

13

10

9

49

+5

8.

Tottenham

32

12

11

9

47

-1

9.

Hull

32

12

2

18

38

+8

10.

West Ham

32

10

7

15

37

-1

11.

Aston Villa

33

10

5

18

35

+4

12.

Sunderland

32

8

11

13

35

+4

13.

Crystal Palace

32

9

6

17

33

-2

14.

Stoke

32

8

8

16

32

-4

15.

Newcastle

32

7

11

14

32

-2

16.

West Brom

32

8

8

16

32

-2

17.

Burnley

32

7

5

20

26

+2

18.

Swansea

32

6

5

21

23

-10

19.

Leicester

31

6

4

21

22

+1

20.

QPR

33

6

3

24

21

-2

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