Lawro's Premier League predictions v 80s pop legend Rick Astley
- Published
BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson will be making a prediction for all 380 Premier League games this season against a variety of guests.
Lawro's opponent for this week's fixtures is legendary 1980s pop star Rick Astley.
'It's quite odd!' Rick Astley reacts to Pogba mash-up
Astley is a Manchester United fan and says he did not really have any choice in the matter. "I did not even have to think about it," he explained. "I always supported United because my older brothers do."
He only began watching United regularly in the late 1990s when he took a break in his music career and his first visit to Old Trafford in 1998 saw the Red Devils beaten 1-0 by Arsenal, who are back in Manchester on Saturday.
Astley told BBC Sport: "United are so exciting as a team going forward but, like every team, there are certain days when it doesn't click and when it is like that it is just painful.
"That was just one of those days unfortunately - so I might be a jinx."
He has better memories of another meeting between the two sides a few months later, however, when he saw Ryan Giggs run past what seemed like half the Arsenal team to score his favourite United goal in a famous FA Cup tie.
"It is an obvious one to choose as my favourite but I was watching the game in a bar at the Val d'Isere ski resort in France," Astley said.
"The bar has a very low roof and the amount of people who banged their heads when Giggs scored was unbelievable - it just kicked off big time.
"It was weird because obviously the Arsenal fans were gutted but you could see in some of their faces that even they could appreciate it. It is just a ridiculous goal, almost as if someone wrote it down and said 'there you go, just go and do that'."
You can make your own predictions now, compare them with those of Lawro and other fans, and try to take your team to the top of the leaderboard by playing the BBC Sport Predictor game.
Premier League predictions - week 12 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Rick | |
SATURDAY | |||
Man Utd v Arsenal | 1-1 | 1-1 | 7-0 |
Crystal Palace v Man City | 1-2 | 0-2 | 1-2 |
Everton v Swansea | 1-1 | 2-0 | 2-0 |
Southampton v Liverpool | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-3 |
Stoke v Bournemouth | 0-1 | 1-1 | 2-0 |
Sunderland v Hull | 3-0 | 2-0 | 0-0 |
Watford v Leicester | 2-1 | 0-2 | 0-1 |
Tottenham v West Ham | 3-2 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
SUNDAY | |||
Middlesbrough v Chelsea | 0-1 | 0-2 | 0-3 |
MONDAY | |||
West Brom v Burnley | 4-0 | 2-0 | 1-1 |
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.
In the last round of games before the international break, Lawro got four correct results, including one perfect score, from 10 Premier League matches. That gave him a total of 70 points.
He was beaten by former Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Scherzinger, who got five correct results, with one perfect score, for a total of 80 points.
Total scores after week 11 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 910 |
Guests | 820 |
LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS
All kick-offs 15:00 GMT unless otherwise stated.
SATURDAY
Man Utd 1-1 Arsenal
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Rick's prediction: I won't be at the game, so I won't jinx United this time. 7-0
Crystal Palace 1-2 Man City
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Rick's prediction: City are a bit of a mega-force right now so I have got to say they will win. 1-2
Watford 2-1 Leicester
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Rick's prediction: I think Leicester are getting it back together. 0-1
SUNDAY
MONDAY
West Brom 4-0 Burnley
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Rick's prediction: 1-1
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P11 | W6 | D0 | L5 |
SCORE | GUEST LEADERBOARD |
|---|---|
150 | Elis James |
110 | Michael van Gerwen |
100 | Joe Clarke |
83 | Lawro (average after 11 weeks) |
80 | Nicole Scherzinger |
70 | Dave Bautista, Sam Burgess, Athletico Mince |
50 | Charlie Sloth, Laura Trott |
40 | Ed Balls |
30 | Blossoms |
Lawro's best score: 140 points (week three v Laura Trott)
Lawro's worst score: 30 points (week four v Dave Bautista)
+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | +/- |
1 | Liverpool | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 0 |
2 | Man Utd | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 28 | +4 |
3 | Arsenal | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 27 | +1 |
4 | Chelsea | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 26 | -2 |
5 | Man City | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 26 | -2 |
6 | Tottenham | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 20 | -1 |
7 | Leicester | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 19 | +7 |
8 | West Ham | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 19 | +9 |
9 | Everton | 11 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 16 | -2 |
10 | Stoke | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 13 | +2 |
11 | Crystal Palace | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | +5 |
12 | Southampton | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | -2 |
13 | Bournemouth | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
14 | Burnley | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -5 |
15 | Sunderland | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | +5 |
16 | Middlesbrough | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | -1 |
17 | West Brom | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | -6 |
18 | Watford | 11 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 6 | -10 |
19 | Swansea | 11 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
20 | Hull | 11 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 1 | -1 |
- Published17 November 2016
- Published16 November 2016
- Published17 November 2016
