Premier League predictions: Lawro v NBA stars Dario Saric & Aron Baynes
- Published
Manchester City travel to Liverpool on Sunday in a mouth-watering fixture - but will the Premier League leaders' unbeaten record survive their trip to Anfield, and will the game live up to its billing?
BBC Sport football expert Mark Lawrenson: "It is the biggest game of the weekend and hopefully it is the best game of the weekend in terms of the football both teams play.
"I think there is a good chance of that happening. I can't think that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will play defensively, will he? Liverpool can't play that way anyhow.
Lawro is going for a 1-1 draw - 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.
The scores from the FA Cup third round did not count but, from the last round of Premier League games, Lawro scored 90 points in week 21, which leaves him in 2,853rd place out of more than 345,000 users.
He will be making a prediction for all 380 top-flight games this season, against a variety of guests.
This week, Lawro takes Dario Saric of the Philadelphia 76ers and Aron Baynes of the Boston Celtics, who meet at the O2 Arena on Thursday in the eighth regular season game to take place in London.
Baynes, 31, joined Boston Celtics in 2017 after two seasons with Detroit Pistons
New Zealand-born Baynes admits he does not know much about football and struggles a bit with some of the team names when it came to making his predictions - West Town and South Hamilton both feature - but he did try the sport growing up in Australia, and enjoyed watching it too.
He told BBC Sport: "It was mostly six-a-side - just playing around after school.
"I never really played the big organised 11-a-side game but the town I grew up in, Mareeba, had a lot of Italian and Spanish people living there so soccer was definitely at the forefront out there, up in North Queensland.
"I watched a lot of the Premier League growing up - one of my best friends was from England and they were pretty hardcore Manchester [United] fans, so I watched a bit of the Premier League when I was over at his place.
"His dad would always have it on, so to try to give them a little bit of a dig I would support anyone else who was up against Manchester [United] at that point in time.
"Then my brother started following Chelsea a lot and I tried to give it to him a little bit as well - so mainly when other teams were playing those two I would go for the opposition and have a little bit of fun that way."
Saric, 23, joined the 76ers from Turkish team Anadolu Efes in 2016
Saric, who is from Croatia, also played in his youth and was a fan of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, although his favourite player was former Juventus and AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi.
"Football is like the main sport in Croatia," Saric told BBC Sport. "We have had a lot of legendary players and we have some very good ones at the moment too.
"As a kid, you start to play on the street, and you play against your neighbours and your friends.
"I chose to play basketball but even now I follow football more than the basketball and know more football players than NBA ones because of the area I grew up in and the people I grew up with."
Premier League predictions: Lawro v NBA stars Saric & Baynes
Premier League predictions - week 23 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Saric | Baynes | |
SATURDAY | ||||
Chelsea v Leicester | 0-0 | 2-0 | 2-0 | 0-1 |
Crystal Palace v Burnley | 1-0 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 1-0 |
Huddersfield v West Ham | 1-4 | 1-1 | 1-2 | 0-2 |
Newcastle v Swansea | 1-1 | 2-0 | 2-2 | 1-0 |
Watford v Southampton | 2-2 | 1-1 | 2-0 | 0-1 |
West Brom v Brighton | 2-0 | 1-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 |
Tottenham v Everton | 4-0 | 2-0 | 3-1 | 2-1 |
SUNDAY | ||||
Bournemouth v Arsenal | 2-1 | 1-1 | 0-2 | 1-3 |
Liverpool v Man City | 4-3 | 1-1 | 2-4 | 2-1 |
WEDNESDAY | ||||
Man Utd v Stoke | 3-0 | 2-0 | 1-0 | 0-1 |
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.
SATURDAY
Chelsea 0-0 Leicester
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Saric's prediction: Leicester this season are like last year - not so good. Chelsea will win. 2-0
Baynes's prediction: Let's go Leicester! Give it to my brother's old team. 0-1
Crystal Palace 1-0 Burnley
Lawro's prediction: 1-2
Saric's prediction: 1-1
Baynes's prediction: Crystal. They have got the glassware, so let's go 1-0.
Huddersfield 1-4 West Ham
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Saric's prediction: 1-2
Baynes's prediction (he is clearly not au fait with the Hammers): I am giving it to the West Town here. 0-2
Newcastle 1-1 Swansea
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Saric's prediction: 2-2
Baynes's prediction: Let's go Newcastle. I hope it's a cracker. 1-0
Watford 2-2 Southampton
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Saric's prediction: 2-0
Baynes's prediction (again, I don't think he grew up a fan of Alan Shearer or Matt le Tissier): Watford v South Hamilton? I am going one-nothing to South Hamilton. 0-1
West Brom 2-0 Brighton
Lawro's prediction: 1-0
Saric's prediction: 1-0
Baynes's prediction: West Brom it is! 2-0
Tottenham 4-0 Everton
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Saric's prediction: 3-1
Baynes's prediction: I played for San Antonio Spurs and won the NBA championship, so I am going to give it to Spurs here. 2-1
SUNDAY
Bournemouth 2-1 Arsenal
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Saric's prediction: 0-2
Baynes's prediction: 1-3
Liverpool 4-3 Man City
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Saric's prediction: 2-4
Baynes's prediction: That's a toss-up for me. I am going to go with Liverpool. 2-1
MONDAY
Man Utd v Stoke (20:00 GMT)
Stoke are still without a manager at the time of writing, and it will be very interesting to see who they appoint.
Will it be someone to get them out of a mess, or are they looking for someone more long term?
The tried and trusted managers that struggling clubs like Stoke might have turned to - the likes of Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis - are all in jobs.
And, if it is someone more long term, then he might not be able to keep them in the Premier League.
Whoever is in charge, I don't see them having any success at Old Trafford.
Manchester United have started playing well and winning again - and I think that will continue on Monday.
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Saric's prediction: 1-0
Baynes's prediction: Let's go Stoke, come on! You can pull this one out. 0-1
Which Premier League player could make it in the NBA? Baynes: Pogba is an amazing athlete and he is very explosive, so I think he could get up and down the court a lot quicker than some of the current players. That would be a fun one to see.
How did Lawro do last time?
On FA Cup third-round weekend, Lawro got 12 correct results, including four perfect scores, from the 32 ties for a total of 240 points.
He was up against comedian Guz Khan, who also got 12 correct results, but with two perfect scores. That gave him a total of 160 points.
FA Cup leaderboard after round three | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Correct result | (Perfect scores) | Total | Success rate | |
Lawro | 12 | (4) | 240 pts | 19% |
Guz Khan | 12 | (2) | 160 pts | 13% |
Those scores do not count towards Lawro's total for the season from Premier League fixtures or appear on the guest leaderboard.
Total scores after week 22 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 1,880 |
Guests | 1,660 |
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P22 | W12 | D2 | L8 |
SCORE | GUEST LEADERBOARD |
|---|---|
160 | Justin Hawkins, Chris Shiflett |
130 | James Anderson**, Joe Johnson*** |
120 | Will Poulter, Moeen Ali |
100 | Cesaro & Seamus, Wretch 32 |
85 | Lawro (average after 22 weeks) |
80 | John Cena, Darren Campbell |
70 | Brendan Foster*, Mark Strong |
60 | Jimmy from Django Django, 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, week five v Non Stanford and week 21 v Darren Campbell)
+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | +/- |
1 | Man Utd | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 58 | +1 |
2 | Man City | 22 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 57 | -1 |
3 | Tottenham | 22 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 56 | +2 |
4 | Liverpool | 22 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 54 | 0 |
5 | Chelsea | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 47 | -2 |
6 | Arsenal | 22 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 39 | 0 |
7 | Southampton | 22 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 32 | +10 |
8 | Bournemouth | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 27 | +8 |
9 | West Ham | 22 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 27 | +6 |
10 | Leicester | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 26 | -2 |
11 | West Brom | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 25 | +8 |
12 | Stoke | 22 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 24 | +6 |
13 | Crystal Palace | 22 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 22 | +1 |
14 | Burnley | 22 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 21 | -7 |
15 | Everton | 22 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 19 | -6 |
16 | Newcastle | 22 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 16 | -3 |
17 | Swansea | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 16 | +3 |
18 | Brighton | 22 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 14 | -6 |
19 | Watford | 22 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 13 | -9 |
20 | Huddersfield | 22 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 9 | -9 |
- Published14 January 2018
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