Lawro's Premier League predictions v singer Plan B
- Published
Arsene Wenger's departure from Arsenal at the end of the season means the Gunners' trip to Old Trafford on Sunday could be the final time he takes on his old rival Jose Mourinho.
Wenger claimed his first competitive win over Mourinho at the 16th attempt last season, when Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0 at Emirates Stadium, but who will come out on top this time?
BBC football expert Mark Lawrenson says: "From Wenger's point of view, hopefully he won't be stood up in the stands this time, looking for a seat like he was when he was sent off there in 2009., external That was comical.
"But I just cannot look beyond a United win. I thought they dealt really well with Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-final last week and they will be too strong for the Gunners."
Wenger v Mourinho | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competition | Wenger win | Draw | Mourinho win |
Premier League | 1 | 7 | 6 |
League Cup | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Total | 1 | 7 | 8 |
*Wenger also won when Arsenal and Chelsea met in the 2015 Community Shield, but that fixture is officially a friendly | |||
Lawro will be making a prediction for all 380 top-flight games this season, against a variety of guests.
This week he takes on singer and actor Plan B, who supports Arsenal "because of Ian Wright".
He has met the legendary Gunners striker when they interviewed each other in 2012 and Plan B - real name Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew - still remembers the occasion fondly.
"It was amazing, like a boyhood dream come true," he told BBC Sport.
"I did not have any older brothers, my dad was not about and my mum was not into football, so I got into it off my own accord.
"I saw Ian Wright play and that was it. I was a Gooner after that."
Plan B, an Ivor Novello-winning artist, is an Arsenal fan and a former Championship Manager addict
Plan B says he "loves Arsene Wenger for what he has done for the club" but thinks it is the right time for him to step down as Arsenal boss.
He explained: "I am sad to see him go but I feel like we should have achieved more in the past 10 years because of who we are.
"Arsene helped us become who we are, and you can't take that away from him, but there have just been some decisions - like with players that we nearly bought but didn't - that I think would have changed things for us completely if they had been done differently.
"It became this regular occurrence every season that we wouldn't buy the players we needed, and we wouldn't plug the holes where they needed to be plugged, while Wenger would be insisting we had the depth in the team.
"It was just the same old story every time. To begin with we had to accept we would be second every season, then it was fourth that was the target - now it is sixth.
"Who fills his shoes is for the board to decide, but regardless of who our next manager is, things have stagnated at Arsenal and we need a fresh approach, and we need some excitement.
"We all need to feel that there is a chance that things are going to change, and it just has not felt like that for a long time."
Premier League predictions - week 36 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Plan B | |
SATURDAY | |||
Liverpool v Stoke | 0-0 | 2-0 | 3-1 |
Burnley v Brighton | 0-0 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
Crystal Palace v Leicester | 5-0 | 1-1 | 1-1 |
Huddersfield v Everton | 0-2 | 1-0 | 0-2 |
Newcastle v West Brom | 0-1 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
Southampton v Bournemouth | 2-1 | 2-1 | 1-1 |
Swansea v Chelsea | 0-1 | 0-2 | 1-3 |
SUNDAY | |||
West Ham v Man City | 1-4 | 0-2 | 0-4 |
Man Utd v Arsenal | 2-1 | 2-0 | 1-2 |
MONDAY | |||
Tottenham v Watford | 2-0 | 2-0 | 4-0 |
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 BST unless otherwise stated.
SATURDAY
Burnley 0-0 Brighton
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Plan B's prediction: Burnley are doing all right this season. 2-1
Huddersfield 0-2 Everton
Lawro's prediction: 1-0
Plan B's prediction: Everton will nick this I think. 0-2
SUNDAY
West Ham 1-4 Man City
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Plan B's prediction: I think Man City might smash them you know. 0-4
Man Utd 2-1 Arsenal
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Plan B's prediction: Alexis Sanchez will probably score against us for United, that is the way it usually goes down, isn't it? But come on Arsenal! 1-2
MONDAY
Tottenham 2-0 Watford
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Plan B's prediction: 4-0
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
How did Lawro do in the FA Cup semi-finals?
On FA Cup semi-final weekend, Lawro got both results correct, with one perfect score, for a total of 50 points.
He was up against BBC Asian Network presenter Noreen Khan who also called both games correctly, with one perfect score. They both had a 100% success rate.
FA Cup leaderboard after semi-finals | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Correct result | (Perfect scores) | Success rate | |
Noreen Khan | 2/2 | (1) | 100% |
John Bishop | 3/4 | (1) | 75% |
Lawro | 41/62 | (11) | 66% |
Vuj | 7/16 | (2) | 44% |
Guz Khan | 12/32 | (2) | 38% |
Poet | 6/16 | (0) | 38% |
Tekkerz Kid | 3/8 | (0) | 38% |
From last week's 10 Premier League games - including the midweek games - Lawro got six correct results, including two perfect score, from 10 matches for a total of 120 points.
He beat Khan, who got four correct results, including two perfect scores, for a total of 100 points.
Total scores after week 35 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 3,150 |
Guests | 2,600 |
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P35 | W21 | D3 | L11 |
+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | +/- |
1 | Man City | 34 | 27 | 6 | 1 | 87 | 0 |
2 | Man Utd | 34 | 27 | 6 | 1 | 87 | 0 |
3 | Tottenham | 34 | 26 | 7 | 1 | 85 | +1 |
4 | Liverpool | 35 | 21 | 14 | 0 | 77 | -1 |
5 | Chelsea | 34 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 71 | 0 |
6 | Arsenal | 34 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 63 | 0 |
7 | Leicester | 34 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 51 | +2 |
8 | Burnley | 35 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 43 | -1 |
9 | West Ham | 34 | 9 | 16 | 9 | 43 | +6 |
10 | Southampton | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 41 | +8 |
11 | Bournemouth | 35 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 40 | 0 |
12 | West Brom | 35 | 11 | 7 | 17 | 40 | +9 |
13 | Crystal Palace | 35 | 9 | 7 | 19 | 34 | +1 |
14 | Everton | 35 | 8 | 10 | 17 | 34 | -6 |
15 | Stoke | 35 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 34 | +4 |
16 | Newcastle | 34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 28 | -6 |
17 | Brighton | 34 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 25 | -4 |
18 | Swansea | 34 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 20 | -1 |
19 | Watford | 35 | 4 | 7 | 24 | 19 | -7 |
20 | Huddersfield | 34 | 1 | 12 | 21 | 15 | -4 |
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 | Noreen Khan, Cesaro & Seamus, Wretch 32 |
90 | Lawro (average after 35 weeks), Arni and Justin from The Vaccines, Pete Wentz |
80 | John Cena, Darren Campbell |
70 | John Bishop** Brendan Foster*, Mark Strong |
60 | Jimmy from Django Django, Will Ferrell, Nish Kumar, Non Stanford, Rick Witter |
50 | Steve Cram, Michael Dapaah, Russell Howard, Channing Tatum, Joe Root, Margot Robbie and Allison Janney, Dario Saric, Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell, |
40 | Craig David, Ed Lay |
30 | Elis James, Rhys James, Felix White |
20 | Charlie Cooper, Richard Osman, Emmanuel Sanders and Josh Norman |
* Shows weeks where Lawro had more than one guest, and only the highest score contributed to the guest total.
** Shows weeks where guest total does not include all rearranged games.
Lawro's best score: 170 points (week 30 v Arni and Justin from The Vaccines)
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)