Premier League predictions: Lawro v Steve Cram & Brendan Foster on opening weekend
- Published
The Premier League is back - but who will come out on top in the opening round of fixtures?
BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson has made his predictions for the first 10 games of the new campaign, which include Arsenal hosting Leicester on Friday night, champions Chelsea against Burnley on Saturday and last season's runners-up Tottenham against newly promoted Newcastle on Sunday.
You can make your own predictions now - take on Lawro and other fans and try to take your team to the top of the leaderboard by playing the new-look BBC Sport Predictor game.
Lawro will be making a prediction for all 380 Premier League games this season against a variety of guests.
His opponents for the opening round of Premier League fixtures are BBC athletics commentators Brendan Foster and Steve Cram.
Foster and Cram have been commentating on the World Athletics Championships, which is being held at London Stadium in Stratford.
Foster, who supports Newcastle, and Sunderland fan Cram saw their teams swap divisions last season, with the Magpies promoted back to the Premier League at the same time as the Black Cats went down.
"It's great to have my team Newcastle back in the Premier League," said Foster. "Particularly - and he is standing next to me laughing as I say this - because Steve's team are not in the Premier League any more. So that is good news."
Cram is not confident Sunderland will bounce straight back to the top flight either, adding: "I have got friends who are a bit worried that we are going to go straight down again.
"It is not going to be easy and I would be amazed if we won promotion this season. I am always hopeful and always look on the positive side... but I don't sound confident, do I?
You can hear more of their tales of Tyne-Wear derby banter and the mixed fortunes of north east of England football clubs on Football Focus at 12:00 BST on Saturday on BBC One and the BBC Sport website.
Premier League predictions - week 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Cram | Foster | |
FRIDAY | ||||
Arsenal v Leicester | 4-3 | 2-1 | 2-0 | 3-1 |
SATURDAY | ||||
Watford v Liverpool | 3-3 | 1-1 | 0-2 | 0-4 |
Chelsea v Burnley | 2-3 | 2-0 | 2-1 | 4-0 |
Crystal Palace v Huddersfield | 0-3 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
Everton v Stoke | 1-0 | 2-0 | 3-0 | 2-0 |
Southampton v Swansea | 0-0 | 2-1 | 2-0 | 0-0 |
West Brom v Bournemouth | 1-0 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 2-1 |
Brighton v Man City | 0-2 | 0-2 | 1-3 | 2-1 |
SUNDAY | ||||
Newcastle v Tottenham | 0-2 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 5-0 |
Man Utd v West Ham | 4-0 | 2-0 | 2-0 | 2-0 |
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.
Remember you can try to beat Lawro yourself by playing the BBC Sport Predictor game.
LAWRO'S OPENING WEEKEND PREDICTIONS
All kick-offs 15:00 BST unless otherwise stated.
FRIDAY
Arsenal 4-3 Leicester
Lawro's prediction: 2-1
Cram's prediction: 2-0
Foster's prediction: 3-1
SATURDAY
Watford 3-3 Liverpool
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Cram's prediction: 0-2
Foster's prediction: 0-4
Chelsea 2-3 Burnley
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Cram's prediction: 2-1
Foster's prediction: 4-0
Crystal Palace 0-3 Huddersfield
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Cram's prediction: 0-1
Foster's prediction: 0-0
Southampton 0-0 Swansea
Lawro's prediction: 2-1
Cram's prediction: 2-0
Foster's prediction: 0-0
West Brom 1-0 Bournemouth
Lawro's prediction: 1-2
Cram's prediction: 0-1
Foster's prediction: 2-1
Brighton 0-2 Man City
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Cram's prediction: 1-3
Foster's prediction: 2-1
SUNDAY
Newcastle 0-2 Tottenham
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Cram's prediction: 1-1
Foster's prediction: 5-0
Man Utd 4-0 West Ham
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Cram's prediction: 2-0
Foster's prediction: 2-0
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
How did Lawro do last season?
In Lawro's league table based on his 2016-17 weekly predictions, Chelsea and Liverpool finished joint champions.
Overall, he had four teams out of 20 in their correct positions, with seven more only one place out (see bottom of the page).
Total scores after week 38 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 3,440 |
Guests | 2,760 |
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P38 | W24 | D1 | L13 |
SCORE | GUEST LEADERBOARD |
|---|---|
150 | Elis James |
130 | Boris Becker, James McAvoy, Tim Vine |
120 | Robbie Williams |
110 | Michael van Gerwen |
100 | Joe Clarke, Osi Umenyiora, Tom from Kasabian, Royal Blood |
91 | Lawro (average after 38 weeks) |
90 | Josh Franceschi, Goldie, Amy Macdonald, Andy Murray, Colin Murray |
80 | David Gower, Loyle Carner, Nicole Scherzinger |
70 | Dave Bautista, Sam Burgess, Anthony Crolla, Athletico Mince |
60 | Rick Astley, Adrian Dunbar, Jermaine Jenas, Sting & son |
50 | Martin Kemp, Charlie Sloth, Laura Kenny |
40 | Ed Balls |
30 | Michael Bisping, Blossoms, CFC Fan TV, Full Time DEVILS, American hip-hop duo Run The Jewels, Serge from Kasabian |
20 | Moeen Ali, Lloyd Griffith, Charlie Nelson |
10 | Omid Djalili |
Lawro's best score: 140 points (week 22 v James McAvoy)
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 | Chelsea | 38 | 29 | 5 | 4 | 92 | 0 |
=1 | Liverpool | 38 | 27 | 11 | 0 | 92 | +3 |
3 | Man City | 38 | 27 | 9 | 2 | 90 | 0 |
4 | Arsenal | 38 | 25 | 11 | 2 | 86 | +1 |
5 | Tottenham | 38 | 25 | 10 | 3 | 85 | -3 |
6 | Man Utd | 38 | 22 | 13 | 3 | 79 | 0 |
7 | Leicester | 38 | 22 | 6 | 10 | 72 | +5 |
8 | Everton | 38 | 10 | 18 | 10 | 48 | -1 |
9 | Crystal Palace | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 47 | +5 |
10 | Stoke | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 45 | +3 |
11 | West Brom | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 44 | -1 |
12 | West Ham | 38 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 37 | -1 |
13 | Bournemouth | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 35 | -4 |
14 | Sunderland | 38 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 34 | +6 |
15 | Burnley | 38 | 6 | 14 | 18 | 32 | +1 |
=16 | Southampton | 38 | 6 | 9 | 23 | 27 | -8 |
=16 | Swansea | 38 | 6 | 9 | 23 | 27 | -1 |
=16 | Watford | 38 | 7 | 6 | 25 | 27 | +1 |
19 | Middlesbrough | 38 | 4 | 9 | 25 | 21 | 0 |
20 | Hull | 38 | 4 | 5 | 29 | 17 | -2 |
- Published8 August 2017
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