Premier League Boxing Day predictions: Lawro v The Darkness singer Justin Hawkins
- Published
West Brom manager Alan Pardew is still waiting for his first win after five games in charge - will he finally get to celebrate a victory when his struggling side host Everton on Boxing Day?
BBC Sport football expert Mark Lawrenson says: "You can see Pardew is trying to change the way the Baggies play and be a little bit more attacking.
"They lost 3-1 at Stoke on Saturday but in all honesty, when the score was 2-1, they had quite a few chances to equalise and I do think their luck in front of goal will change soon."
Lawro is going for a 1-0 West Brom win - do you agree? You can make your own predictions now, take on Lawro and other fans, create your own league and try to make it to the top of the table by playing the new-look BBC Sport Predictor game.
Lawro scored 80 points in week 19, which meant he climbed to 3,072nd place out of more than 335,000 users.
He will be making a prediction for all 380 top-flight games this season, against a variety of guests.
This week, Lawro takes on Justin Hawkins, singer with rock band The Darkness.
Hawkins supports Manchester United and Norwich City "for boyhood glory dreams and geographical reasons" and used to play a lot of football himself.
He told BBC Sport: "I spent many happy years as a striker for New House FC in the Lowestoft Sunday League. They were great men, and I miss them all terribly.
Justin (left) and The Darkness. Their latest album, Pinewood Smile, made the top 10 in October
"I stopped when I moved away to live with my wife and child in Switzerland, but I feel like I could have done a John Wark and gradually dropped into midfield, defence, goalkeeper and finally assistant to the manager.
"I used to spend Sunday mornings chasing down loose balls, feeding off scraps and rebounds from my strike partner James Hurren. I ran about a lot, often to no avail. But I'll never forget the feeling of scoring a header on my debut in Beccles somewhere.
"I just nodded in a beautiful cross from Craig 'Cheese' Aldred that landed right on my face and made it impossible to miss. The lads said they've never seen someone look so happy, despite the treacherous pitch conditions. It was worth contracting trench foot.
"As you can tell, I'm fond of these memories."
Premier League predictions - week 20 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Justin | |
BOXING DAY | |||
Tottenham v Southampton | 5-2 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
Bournemouth v West Ham | 3-3 | 1-1 | 0-1 |
Chelsea v Brighton | 2-0 | 2-0 | 4-0 |
Huddersfield v Stoke | 1-1 | 1-1 | 1-1 |
Man Utd v Burnley | 2-2 | 2-0 | 3-1 |
Watford v Leicester | 2-1 | 1-2 | 1-2 |
West Brom v Everton | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
Liverpool v Swansea | 5-0 | 3-0 | 5-0 |
WEDNESDAY | |||
Newcastle v Man City | 0-1 | 0-2 | 0-2 |
THURSDAY | |||
Crystal Palace v Arsenal | 2-3 | 1-1 | 0-2 |
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.
LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS
All kick-offs 15:00 GMT unless otherwise stated.
BOXING DAY
Man Utd 2-2 Burnley
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Justin's prediction: I don't think this will be very inspiring to watch. 3-1
Watford 2-1 Leicester
Lawro's prediction: 1-2
Justin's prediction: I love Watford, but I have a feeling this one will go against them. 1-2
Liverpool 5-0 Swansea
Lawro's prediction: 3-0
Justin's prediction: Liverpool will show no seasonal mercy. 5-0
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
Crystal Palace 2-3 Arsenal
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Justin's prediction: 0-2
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan
How did Lawro do last time?
In the last round of Premier League games, Lawro got five correct results, including one perfect score, from 10 matches, for a total of 80 points.
He beat singer-songwriter Craig David who got four correct results, with no perfect scores, giving him a total of 40 points.
Total scores after week 19 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 1,630 |
Guests | 1,360 |
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P19 | W11 | D2 | L6 |
SCORE | GUEST LEADERBOARD |
|---|---|
160 | Chris Shiflett |
130 | James Anderson**, Joe Johnson*** |
120 | Will Poulter, Moeen Ali |
100 | Cesaro & Seamus, Wretch 32 |
86 | Lawro (average after 19 weeks) |
80 | John Cena |
70 | Brendan Foster*, Mark Strong |
60 | Will Ferrell, Nish Kumar, Non Stanford, Rick Witter |
50 | Steve Cram, Michael Dapaah, Channing Tatum, Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell, Joe Root |
40 | Craig David |
30 | Felix White |
20 | Richard Osman |
*Foster and Cram both provided predictions on week one, but only Foster's score contributes to the guest total.
**Anderson and Moeen both provided predictions on week nine, but only Anderson's score contributes to the guest total.
***Witter and Johnson both provided predictions on week 17, but only Johnson's score contributes to the guest total.
Lawro's best score: 150 points (week eight v Wretch 32)
Lawro's worst score: 40 points (week four v Umenyiora and Bell, and week five v Non Stanford)
+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | +/- |
1 | Man Utd | 19 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 49 | +1 |
2 | Man City | 19 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 48 | -1 |
3 | Tottenham | 19 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 47 | +2 |
4 | Liverpool | 19 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 45 | 0 |
5 | Chelsea | 19 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 41 | -2 |
6 | Arsenal | 19 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 35 | 0 |
7 | Southampton | 19 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 29 | +6 |
8 | West Ham | 19 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 25 | +9 |
9 | Bournemouth | 19 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 22 | +9 |
10 | Burnley | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 21 | -3 |
11 | Crystal Palace | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 21 | +5 |
12 | Leicester | 19 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 19 | -4 |
13 | Stoke | 19 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 20 | +1 |
14 | Everton | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 19 | -5 |
15 | West Brom | 19 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 18 | +4 |
16 | Swansea | 19 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 16 | +4 |
17 | Newcastle | 19 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | -2 |
18 | Brighton | 19 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 12 | -6 |
19 | Watford | 19 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 10 | -9 |
20 | Huddersfield | 19 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 4 | -9 |