Premier League predictions: Lawro v cricket legend Shane Warne
- Published
The Premier League returns this weekend, with Chelsea playing Manchester United at lunchtime on Saturday in the first action after the international break.
"It is a big game - talk about announcing that the Premier League is back," BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson said.
"The story is former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho going back to Stamford Bridge. You would think he has gone back enough times but it always seems to be a big deal when he goes back, and this is no different.
"Jose lost on all three of his visits to the Bridge when Antonio Conte was in charge of the Blues and it is going to be very interesting to see how he gets on against Maurizio Sarri, who is doing an extremely good job."
Lawro is making predictions for all 380 top-flight matches this season, against a variety of guests.
This week's guest is Australia cricket legend Shane Warne.
Chelsea v Man Utd - Warne predicts who will be victorious
Warne is a Chelsea fan and says he has been supporting them since he first came to the UK in 1989.
He explained: "I had caught the train from Bristol to London and was on the tube when some guy with a Chelsea scarf and Chelsea stuff all over him came up to me and said 'who do you support?'.
"I looked at him and in his hand he had a big knife - a bit like the one Paul Hogan had in Crocodile Dundee when he says 'that's a knife' - so I said 'I support Chelsea'.
"And ever since then, I have been too scared to support anyone else."
Premier League predictions - week 9 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Shane | |
SATURDAY | |||
Chelsea v Man Utd | 2-2 | 1-1 | 2-1 |
Bournemouth v Southampton | 0-0 | 2-1 | 2-3 |
Cardiff v Fulham | 4-2 | 1-2 | 0-1 |
Man City v Burnley | 5-0 | 3-0 | 2-0 |
Newcastle v Brighton | 0-1 | 2-0 | 1-0 |
West Ham v Tottenham | 0-1 | 1-1 | 1-0 |
Wolves v Watford | 0-2 | 2-0 | 0-2 |
Huddersfield v Liverpool | 0-1 | 0-2 | 0-3 |
SUNDAY | |||
Everton v Crystal Palace | 2-0 | 2-0 | 4-0 |
MONDAY | |||
Arsenal v Leicester | x-x | 2-0 | 3-0 |
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 stated.
SATURDAY
Chelsea 2-2 Man Utd
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Shane's prediction: Oof! Chelsea v Man Utd, bang straight away. We have done well the last few times they have come to Stamford Bridge so as long we keep beating them that would be good, because a lot of my friends support United. 2-1
Bournemouth 0-0 Southampton
Lawro's prediction: 2-1
Shane's prediction: Ooh, a derby. Southampton to edge it. 2-3
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Arsenal v Leicester (20:00 BST)
Leicester lost at home last time out, which is usually enough for people to start muttering about the future of their manager Claude Puel.
I don't see things getting any better for Puel on Monday. Arsenal are on a run of nine straight wins in all competitions, and I would expect them to beat Leicester as well.
Emery 'calm' over Arsenal top four chances
Like Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri, Gunners boss Unai Emery has come in and is doing a very good job.
That shows they are clearly both good managers, but it also shows that both clubs are very well run, with good resources and some excellent players.
New coaches mean new voices, new training methods and new tactics but we are seeing how good players are very receptive to all of those things.
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Shane's prediction: 3-0
How did Lawro do last week?
In the week before the international break, Lawro got four correct results, with no perfect scores, from 10 matches for a total of 40 points.
He was beaten by Radio 1 DJ Chris Stark, who got three correct results, but with two exact scores, for a total of 90 points.
Total scores after week 8 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 730 |
Guests | 640 |
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P8 | W3 | D1 | L4 |
+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | +/- |
1 | Man Utd | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 24 | +7 |
2 | Man City | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 22 | -1 |
3 | Tottenham | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 15 | +2 |
=4 | Chelsea | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 14 | -2 |
=4 | Leicester | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 14 | +6 |
=4 | Liverpool | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 14 | -1 |
=7 | Arsenal | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 | -3 |
=7 | Crystal Palace | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 | +7 |
=9 | Burnley | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 12 | +3 |
=9 | Everton | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 12 | +2 |
=11 | Bournemouth | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 | -5 |
=11 | Southampton | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | +5 |
13 | Watford | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 9 | -4 |
=14 | Brighton | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | -1 |
=14 | Fulham | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | +3 |
16 | West Ham | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -1 |
=17 | Newcastle | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | +2 |
=17 | Wolves | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 | -10 |
19 | Cardiff | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | +1 |
20 | Huddersfield | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | -2 |
GUEST LEADERBOARD 2018-19
SCORE | GUEST LEADERBOARD |
|---|---|
120 | Joe Thomas |
91 | Lawro (average after eight weeks) |
90 | Karl Pilkington, Chris Stark |
80 | Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg James, Mark Wahlberg |
60 | Idris Elba |
40 | Tom Grennan |