Premier League predictions: Lawro v NFL stars Emmanuel Sanders and Josh Norman
- Published
Arsenal's new-look attack could get its first run-out on Saturday when the Gunners face Everton, but will one of their former forwards steal the show?
BBC Sport football expert Mark Lawrenson says: "Theo Walcott must be looking forward to this game against his old team after opening his account for Everton with two goals in Wednesday's win over Leicester.
"It will be interesting to see how that goes for him on an individual level but, as far as the teams go, I do not see Everton coming out on top.
"Arsenal could look very different now they have done their transfer business - including selling Walcott - and I think they should just chuck new £56m striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in for his debut.
"I am a big fan of Aubameyang and I think he will make the difference in this game - not Walcott."
Lawro is going for a 2-0 Arsenal win - do you agree?
You can make your 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 130 points in week 25, which leaves him in 1,168th place out of more than 380,000 users.
Lawro will be making a prediction for all 380 top-flight games this season, against a variety of guests.
This week, he takes on Denver Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman.
The pair were in Manchester for an NFL UK Live show and went to visit Manchester United's training ground, where they swapped shirts with Paul Pogba and met the rest of the squad.
Pogba in the NFL? Sanders (left) thinks the United midfielder could play as safety in defense - one of the hardest-hitting positions in the sport
"Those guys are huge, athletically built and they are fast," Sanders told BBC Sport. "I was looking at Pogba and he could be a safety [a defensive back] in the NFL.
"Could he make it? It depends on his aggression and I don't really watch soccer like that.
"But it could go both ways - we have got guys in the NFL right now who could definitely come over and play soccer. We are all athletes at the end of the day and we have all got good footwork."
World Cup or Super Bowl? NFL stars' Premier League predictions
You can see their Premier League predictions below but, when it comes to Sunday's Super Bowl, they are expecting a sixth success for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
The BBC will bring you comprehensive coverage of Super Bowl LII across all platforms on Sunday, 4 February.
Super Bowl LII: New England Patriots v Philadelphia Eagles |
|---|
Venue: US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis Date: Sunday, 4 February Time: 23:15 GMT |
Coverage: Live on BBC One, Connected TV, BBC Sport website and mobile app plus live text coverage. |
You can also follow #BBCNFL, external on Twitter to join the debate during the match.
Premier League predictions - week 26 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Sanders & Norman | |
SATURDAY | |||
Burnley v Man City | 1-1 | 0-2 | 1-2 |
Bournemouth v Stoke | 2-1 | 1-1 | 0-0 |
Brighton v West Ham | 3-1 | 2-1 | 0-1 |
Leicester v Swansea | 1-1 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
Man Utd v Huddersfield | 2-0 | 2-0 | 4-0 |
West Brom v Southampton | 2-3 | 2-1 | 2-2 |
Arsenal v Everton | 5-1 | 2-0 | 3-2 |
SUNDAY | |||
Crystal Palace v Newcastle | 1-1 | 2-0 | 0-2 |
Liverpool v Tottenham | 2-2 | 1-1 | 1-3 |
MONDAY | |||
Watford v Chelsea | 4-1 | 0-2 | 2-3 |
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
Sanders was impressed by Pogba's footwork
Arsenal 5-1 Everton
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Sanders & Norman's prediction: (Norman) Everton have got Rooney! If I go against him I am going to get hate-mail - but I think Arsenal are going to pull it out. 3-2
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Watford 4-1 Chelsea
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Sanders & Norman's prediction: 2-3
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
How did Lawro do last time?
From the last round of Premier League games, Lawro got four correct results, with three perfect scores, from 10 matches for a total of 130 points.
He was up against Russell Leetch and Ed Lay from rock band Editors, and could not beat both of them.
Leetch also got four correct results, with three perfect scores, for a tally of 130, while Lay got four correct results, but with no perfect scores. That gave him a total of 40 points.
Total scores after week 25 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 2,200 |
Guests | 1,990 |
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P24 | W13 | D3 | L9 |
+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | +/- |
1 | Tottenham | 25 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 65 | +4 |
2 | Man City | 25 | 20 | 4 | 1 | 64 | -1 |
3 | Man Utd | 25 | 20 | 4 | 1 | 64 | -1 |
4 | Liverpool | 25 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 59 | -1 |
5 | Chelsea | 25 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 54 | -1 |
6 | Arsenal | 25 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 46 | 0 |
7 | Southampton | 25 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 36 | +11 |
8 | Leicester | 25 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 32 | 0 |
9 | West Ham | 25 | 6 | 14 | 5 | 32 | +3 |
10 | Stoke | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 30 | +6 |
11 | West Brom | 25 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 29 | +9 |
12 | Bournemouth | 25 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 28 | -2 |
13 | Burnley | 25 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 25 | -5 |
14 | Crystal Palace | 25 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 23 | -1 |
15 | Everton | 25 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 20 | -6 |
16 | Newcastle | 25 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 20 | -2 |
17 | Swansea | 25 | 5 | 1 | 19 | 16 | +2 |
18 | Brighton | 25 | 2 | 9 | 14 | 15 | -3 |
19 | Watford | 25 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 14 | -8 |
20 | Huddersfield | 25 | 1 | 8 | 16 | 11 | -3 |
GUEST LEADERBOARD
SCORE | GUEST LEADERBOARD |
|---|---|
160 | Justin Hawkins, Chris Shiflett |
130 | James Anderson*, Joe Johnson* |
120 | Russel Leetch*, Will Poulter, Moeen Ali |
110 | Aron Baynes* |
100 | Cesaro & Seamus, Wretch 32 |
90 | Pete Wentz |
88 | Lawro (average after 25 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, Dario Saric |
40 | Craig David, Ed Lay |
30 | Felix White |
20 | Richard Osman |
* Shows weeks where Lawro had more than one guest, and only the highest score contributed to the guest total.
Lawro's best score: 150 points (week eight v Wretch 32 and week 24 v Pete Wentz)
Lawro's worst score: 40 points (week four v Umenyiora and Bell, week five v Non Stanford, week 21 v Darren Campbell and week 23 v Saric and Baynes)