Premier League predictions: Lawro v Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas on opening weekend
- Published
The Premier League is back, but who will enjoy a fast start to the season, and who will suffer the pain of a defeat on the opening weekend?
BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson has made his predictions for the first 10 games of the new campaign, which include Manchester United hosting Leicester on Friday night, newly-promoted Wolves against Everton on Saturday and champions Manchester City's trip to Arsenal on Sunday.
Lawro is making predictions for all 380 top-flight matches this season, against a variety of guests.
His first guest for the 2018-19 campaign is actor Joe Thomas.
The former star of 'The Inbetweeners' is in a new film called 'The Festival' - and is also looking forward to seeing how Tottenham fare in the forthcoming campaign.
Joe is the first guest to take on Lawro this season and says "I am terrified about going first because there is not much to go on"
"My favourite times as a Spurs fan were the Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker era of the early 1990s, but this is a good time too," Thomas said.
"We have quite a few England players and I think expectations are going to be quite high for the likes of Kieran Trippier and Harry Kane to follow up what they did at the World Cup.
"The first target is the top four but then we will see what happens beyond that.
"There is a lot of excitement around the new stadium because there is a sense that, once we move in, things are going to be a bit more settled."
You can hear more from Thomas on Football Focus at 12:00 BST on Saturday on BBC One and the BBC Sport website.
Premier League predictions - week 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Joe | |
FRIDAY | |||
Man Utd v Leicester | 2-1 | 1-0 | 1-0 |
SATURDAY | |||
Newcastle v Tottenham | 1-2 | 1-1 | 1-2 |
Bournemouth v Cardiff | 2-0 | 1-1 | 1-2 |
Fulham v Crystal Palace | 0-2 | 2-1 | 1-1 |
Huddersfield v Chelsea | 0-3 | 0-2 | 0-2 |
Watford v Brighton | 2-0 | 1-0 | 5-0 |
Wolves v Everton | 2-2 | 2-1 | 2-2 |
SUNDAY | |||
Liverpool v West Ham | 4-0 | 2-0 | 3-1 |
Southampton v Burnley | 0-0 | 2-1 | 0-2 |
Arsenal v Man City | 0-2 | 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 BST unless stated.
FRIDAY
Man Utd 2-1 Leicester
Lawro's prediction: 1-0
Joe's prediction: This should be a United home win, but I think it might be quite tight. 1-0
SATURDAY
Wolves 2-2 Everton
Lawro's prediction: 2-1
Joe's prediction: This is another home game for a promoted team, and I think they will give Everton a test. 2-2
SUNDAY
Liverpool 4-0 West Ham
Lawro's top-four prediction | |||
|---|---|---|---|
1. Man City | 2. Liverpool | 3. Man Utd | 4. Arsenal |
Southampton 0-0 Burnley
Lawro's prediction: 2-1
Joe's prediction: If they can kick on where they left off last season then his was the kind of game that Burnley were winning (they did indeed triumph 1-0 at St Mary's Stadium in November) so let's say they will win again on Sunday too. 0-2
Arsenal 0-2 Man City
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Joe's prediction: Well, I think Arsenal will score - but so will City. What a game this could be. 2-3
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
How did Lawro do last season?
In Lawro's league table based on his 2017-18 weekly predictions, Manchester City finished champions - just as they did in reality.
Overall, he had seven teams out of 20 in their correct positions, with four more only one or two places out (see bottom of the page).
Total scores at the end of the 2017-18 season | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 3,410 |
Guests | 2,820 |
Lawro v Guests - the final total | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P38 | W23 | D3 | L12 |
+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | +/- |
1 | Man City | 38 | 31 | 6 | 1 | 99 | 0 |
2 | Man Utd | 38 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 97 | 0 |
3 | Tottenham | 38 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 97 | 0 |
4 | Liverpool | 38 | 23 | 15 | 0 | 84 | 0 |
5 | Chelsea | 38 | 24 | 9 | 5 | 81 | 0 |
6 | Arsenal | 38 | 19 | 13 | 6 | 68 | 0 |
7 | Leicester | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 56 | +2 |
8 | Burnley | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 48 | -1 |
9 | West Ham | 38 | 10 | 17 | 11 | 47 | +4 |
10 | Southampton | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 46 | +7 |
11 | Bournemouth | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 43 | +1 |
12 | West Brom | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 43 | +8 |
13 | Stoke | 38 | 8 | 13 | 17 | 37 | +6 |
14 | Crystal Palace | 38 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 35 | -3 |
15 | Everton | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 35 | -7 |
16 | Newcastle | 38 | 7 | 10 | 21 | 31 | -6 |
17 | Brighton | 38 | 4 | 13 | 21 | 25 | -2 |
18 | Swansea | 38 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 24 | 0 |
19 | Watford | 38 | 5 | 7 | 26 | 22 | -5 |
20 | Huddersfield | 38 | 2 | 13 | 23 | 19 | -4 |
GUEST LEADERBOARD - FINAL STANDINGS 2017-18
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 |
91 | Lawro (average after 38 weeks) |
90 | John Bishop, Arni and Justin from The Vaccines, Pete Wentz |
80 | John Cena, Darren Campbell |
70 | Plan B, 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 | James Bay, 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.
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)