Premier League predictions: Lawro v Peter Hooton, The Farm singer & Liverpool fan

Premier League leaders Liverpool have dropped points in their last two matches so should Reds fans be concerned as they prepare for their first game of 2021, at Southampton?

"If they were not creating chances then it would be a serious worry," said BBC football expert and former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson. "But they are still making loads of them.

"If they had nicked a goal at Newcastle on Wednesday, which obviously they could and should have done, then they would have won, gone five points clear and everyone would be saying 'who is going to stop Liverpool now?'

"Instead, it is a case of 'well, they are only three points clear'. It's a fine line, that changes people's perceptions of how a team is doing when it really shouldn't do. I've spoken to Liverpool fans who tell me 'oh, we're not doing well at the moment, and we can't put away our chances'.

"My response is usually quite dry and along the lines of 'no, they are only top of the league and with half their team missing. And that front three have been terrible for the past three years, haven't they?'

"Being serious though, teams don't win the league by 15 points every year. This is what usually happens with the ebb and flow over the course of a season when you are challenging for the title - and you have to remember Liverpool are not being beaten either.

"The reaction when they do drop points just shows you the standards they have set."

Lawro is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches this season, against a variety of guests.

This week, for the first set of Premier League fixtures of 2021, he is up against The Farm singer and Liverpool fan Peter Hooton.

The Farm have released a new digital EP of their 1990 hit All Together Now to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

The song is about the legendary game of football played between the trenches in World War I by Allied and German troops on Christmas Day 1914.

In turn, All Together Now was used as the inspiration for the annual Premier League Christmas Truce Tournament, in which Under-12 academy players from clubs across Europe meet for a tournament in Ypres, Belgium, and learn about the First World War.

"The Premier League championed it, and it was because of the song," Hooton explained. "We went over in 2014 for the 100th anniversary of the Christmas ceasefire, and played an acoustic version in a massive marquee at the award ceremony, where all the kids were.

"It is a brilliant event and it's poignant and symbolic that the song has been adopted in that way - as part of the education for all academy kids, to show how football can unite people as well as divide them.

"All Together Now has also been adopted in South America as part of their Covid response this year. We keep on getting Spotify reports from Buenos Aires, Rio and Sao Paulo, that we are on in their top five on Spotify.

"It's part of a campaign for PPE [personal protective equipment] that uses the song for its theme music. It's great that the song's message of friendship and camaraderie still resonates now, with what is going on around the world."

Hooton (centre) is a Liverpool season ticket holder in the Kop

Hooton has been going to watch Liverpool for more than 40 years and told BBC Sport: "In the late 1970s and 80s when I was growing up, it felt like our success was never-ending.

"You could never have thought there would be a 30-year gap in winning the league that we had until this year. That was unthinkable then, but things change don't they? Things are cyclical, in life and in everything. Football is just another example of that.

"If we win another league title or European Cup, then you can compare this Liverpool side to our great teams of previous eras, because they will have that same consistency of doing it year after year.

"Everyone knows how hard it is to win the Premier League. To do it again would put them right up there.

"Ultimately I think any team is judged on the trophies it wins. For this Liverpool team it is all down to Jurgen Klopp. You can have a fantastic set of players but without that leader as your manager, you won't achieve much."

Hooton (fourth from left) and The Farm had a Christmas number one as part of The Justice Collective in 2012 with a cover of The Hollies' hit He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. The single raised money for charities associated with the 1989 Hillsborough disaster

Anfield has again been closed to supporters because Liverpool has been moved into tier three of the government's coronavirus restrictions.

Up to 2,000 fans were allowed in to watch home games against Wolves, Tottenham and West Brom in December, and Hooton got a ticket for the Spurs game through the club's ballot system.

"It was a good one to get but it was an unusual experience, starting with walking up to the ground and all the pubs being shut," he explained. "From hot dogs to horse manure, everything you're used to seeing and smelling isn't there.

"It was very eerie, and poignant really in many ways, but a great opportunity to get back into the ground.

"I enjoyed it, but it's obviously nothing like being there when it's full. It's surreal, it was like going to watch the reserves or the youth team.

"I'm involved with Spirit of Shankly [the Liverpool supporters' union] and we've always said football is nothing without the fans. Unfortunately we've found out in the past few months how true that is."

*Burnley v Fulham has been postponed.

A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.

LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS

FRIDAY, 1 JANUARY

Everton 0-1 West Ham

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

Peter's prediction: 2-2

Match report

Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Peter's prediction: 1-1

Match report

SATURDAY, 2 JANUARY

Tottenham 3-0 Leeds

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Peter's prediction: 2-3

Match report

Crystal Palace 2-0 Sheffield United

Lawro's prediction: 2-1

Peter's prediction: 3-0

Match report

Brighton 3-3 Wolves

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

Peter's prediction: 1-2

Match report

West Brom 0-4 Arsenal

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

Peter's prediction: 0-2

Match report

SUNDAY, 3 JANUARY

Burnley P-P Fulham

This match was postponed because of further coronavirus cases at Fulham.

Newcastle 1-2 Leicester

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

Peter's prediction: 1-2

Match report

Chelsea 1-3 Man City

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

Peter's prediction: 1-2

Match report

MONDAY, 4 JANUARY

Southampton v Liverpool (20:00 GMT)

I always feel like Southampton are better on the road, but their home form is decent too - the fifth best in the Premier League in fact.

Liverpool have not been great away this season but I just have a feeling they will get back to winning ways on the south coast.

Lawro's prediction: 1-2

Peter's prediction: Southampton have been one of the surprise teams this season but Sadio Mane always does well against his old club and, if he plays, I see us winning by a couple of goals. 0-2

Peter on Liverpool's season so far: If someone had said at the start that we would be top of the league at the end of the year, despite having our best three centre-halves out, then you would take it all day, wouldn't you? We've dropped a few points here and there but the draw with Newcastle was the same as the one with West Brom - we created enough chances but we just didn't take them.

Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.

How did Lawro do last time?

From the games on 28, 29 and 30 December, Lawro got five correct results from eight matches, including one exact score, for a total of 80 points.

He beat Grammy-winning producer Fraser T. Smith, who got three correct results, with no exact scores, for a total of 30 points.

That leaves Fraser level with Rick Astley near the bottom of the guest leaderboard, but with two games still to play - the matches between Everton and Manchester City and Tottenham against Fulham that were postponed.

He predicted a 2-0 Everton win and a 3-0 Spurs victory and any points earned will be added to his total when those games are played.

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