Premier League predictions: Lawro vs University Challenge star Bobby Seagull
- Published
Liverpool won the Merseyside derby against Everton, Manchester United ruined Jose Mourinho's return to Old Trafford and Southampton beat Norwich to move out of the relegation zone.
Then on Thursday night Arsenal lost at home to continue their worst run of form since 1977.
Lawro is making predictions for all 380 top-flight matches this season, against a variety of guests.
This week he is up against University Challenge star Bobby Seagull, who is also a maths teacher, TV presenter, author - and West Ham fan.
Bobby works with West Ham as an education and charity ambassador. He is a keen footballer too, and played against former Hammers striker Jermain Defoe at primary school level - "he scored five in the first half with me as a hapless defender and their teacher subbed him off at half-time as an act of mercy"
Seagull, who grew up in East Ham, is best known for his stint on University Challenge as captain of the Emmanuel College Cambridge team, who lost to Eric Monkman in the 2016-17 semi-final.
Since then he has teamed up with Monkman to present their 'Genius Guide to Britain', a road-trip series that was shown on BBC Two.
"My personal highlight was teaching Eric the 'Paolo di Canio' song, which is based on a melody from a Verdi Rigoletto opera aria, in William Gladstone's old library," Seagull told BBC Sport.
The pair have teamed up again for another BBC Two series, 'Monkman and Seagull's Genius Adventures', which will be shown soon.
Seagull and Monkman will delve into Britain's history as part of their new TV series. He has a piece of West Ham's past in his back garden too, after rescuing some of the old turf from Upton Park that had been left outside the ground
Seagull's passion for maths is obvious, but so is his affection for the Hammers. He had a season ticket at Upton Park in 2002-03 and his family share two at the London Stadium now.
"I'm a part-time school maths teacher and doing a Doctorate in Maths Education at Cambridge," he explained. "I'm also an author of 'The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers'. The book shows how maths is everywhere in life - from the gym, to the kitchen and even my search for love!
"However the word 'football' appears 65 times in my book and 'West Ham' appears 28 times - this perhaps shows my real interests!
"I now am passionate about using football as way of engaging learners about maths. Just last week, I did the keynote talk at the Premier League Teaching & Learning conference for Premier League academy education managers and coaches.
"I volunteer with the West Ham United Foundation as a charity ambassador for the club, going out to visit primary schools promoting maths in football.
"Even when teaching stats, I sometimes get my students to analytically compare Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, so kids focus on statistics rather than just who is the loudest arguer!"
Premier League predictions - week 15 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Bobby | |
TUESDAY | |||
Crystal Palace v Bournemouth | 1-0 | 1-1 | 2-1 |
Burnley v Man City | 1-4 | 0-2 | 1-2 |
WEDNESDAY | |||
Chelsea v Aston Villa | 2-1 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
Leicester v Watford | 2-0 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
Man Utd v Tottenham | 2-1 | 0-2 | 1-1 |
Southampton v Norwich | 2-1 | 1-1 | 1-1 |
Wolves v West Ham | 2-0 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
Liverpool v Everton | 5-2 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
THURSDAY | |||
Sheff Utd v Newcastle | 0-2 | 2-1 | 2-1 |
Arsenal v Brighton | 1-2 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
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 19:30 GMT unless stated.
TUESDAY
Crystal Palace 1-0 Bournemouth
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Bobby's prediction: 2-1
Bobby has analysed all the Premier League results so far in 2019-20 and used them as the basis of his predictions.
He explained: "The most common draw result was 1-1 (13.6% of all matches this season), while the most common home win is 2-1 (10%) and the most common away win is 1-2 (7.9%).
"So rather than trying to be individually smart about matches, once I've established a result of home win, draw or away win, I've gone for the average result frequency. I hope that this tactic will work overall."
Burnley 1-4 Man City
WEDNESDAY
Chelsea 2-1 Aston Villa
Leicester 2-0 Watford
Man Utd 2-1 Tottenham
Southampton 2-1 Norwich
Wolves 2-0 West Ham
Liverpool 5-2 Everton
THURSDAY
Sheff Utd 0-2 Newcastle
Arsenal 1-2 Brighton
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Bobby's prediction: 2-1
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
How did Lawro do last week?
Last weekend, Lawro got five correct results, including one exact score for a total of 80 points.
He beat dual-code rugby star Sonny Bill Williams, who got three correct results, including one exact score, for a total of 60 points.
+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | +/- | |
1 | Man City | 14 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 39 | +2 |
2 | Liverpool | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 38 | -1 |
3 | Chelsea | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 32 | +1 |
4 | Tottenham | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 31 | +1 |
5 | Arsenal | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 28 | +3 |
6 | Man Utd | 14 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 26 | +3 |
7 | Leicester | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 24 | -5 |
8 | Burnley | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 21 | +2 |
=9 | Aston Villa | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 18 | +6 |
=9 | Everton | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 18 | +8 |
=11 | Watford | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 17 | +9 |
=11 | West Ham | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 17 | +2 |
=13 | Bournemouth | 14 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 16 | -1 |
=13 | Wolves | 14 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 16 | -6 |
15 | Newcastle | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 13 | -1 |
=16 | Brighton | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 0 |
=16 | Southampton | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 11 | +2 |
18 | Crystal Palace | 14 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 9 | -7 |
19 | Sheff Utd | 14 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 7 | -12 |
20 | Norwich | 14 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 4 | -1 |
GUEST LEADERBOARD 2019-20
Score | Guest leaderboard |
|---|---|
160 | Gabriel Luna |
140 | Arnold Schwarzenegger |
100 | Adam Peaty |
90 | Helen Housby, Jo Harten, Geraint Thomas |
86 | Lawro (average after 14 weeks) |
80 | Stephen Graham |
70 | Michael Johnson, Craig Mitch, Alex Scott |
60 | Sonny Bill Williams, Stefan Ratchford |
50 | Chelcee Grimes, Reece Parkinson, Sam Warburton |
40 | Stephen Fry, Neil Jones, Tommy O'Dell |
30 | Seth Rollins |
Total scores after week 14 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 1,200 |
Guests | 1,010 |
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P14 | W12 | D1 | L1 |