Soccer soothsayer Mark Lawrenson returns to Paddy Power News for another round of his Premier League tipping competition – and there’s £/€100 on the line in his latest duel with a Paddy Power punter.
Every Premier League matchday we’re putting up £/€50 to anyone who can outsmart Lawro in predicting the outcome of all 10 games. And with Lawro triumphing at the weekend, we’ve rolled it over to double the prize for this week’s contestant.
After leaving his prediction job with the BBC, Mark Lawrenson has had a bit of time on his hands…
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The rules are pretty simple: We’ll award one point for a correct result and three points for a correct score (max three points per game, there’s no four pointers here). Chelsea fan George from Bournemouth managed six correct results but no correct scorelines at the weekend and that cost him dearly as Lawro called the 2-1 result in Arsenal game against Fulham, along with five other correct outcomes to win 8-6 on Sunday evening.
Our midweek challenger is Malcolm from East London, an Arsenal supporter who’ll have even more 100 more reasons to be cheerful if he can take down the king across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday’s games. Here’s what Lawro and Malcolm fancy in the season’s first midweek round of fixtures – I don’t care what you say, games are always better under floodlights…
Crystal Palace v Brentford
Tuesday 7.30pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: Palace had the audacity to take the lead at the Etihad, and then paid for it in the second half. They really stirred the hornets’ nest, but it also showed they’re not afraid of anyone. I saw them against Liverpool and they were really competitive they’ve got some really good forwards. For Brentford, that United game was huge. They’ve got a couple of draws too so far and they’ll be quite happy with five points. I’m going to go for a 2-1 Crystal Palace win though given the way they’ve started the season.
Lawro: Crystal Palace 2 – 1 Brentford
Malcolm: Crystal Palace 2 – 1 Brentford
Result: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brentford
Fulham v Brighton
Tuesday 7.30pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: Brighton are up to fourth and, if you remember last season, they started quite strongly too. Everyone knows now how tactically astute Graham Potter is and it’s shown up in the opening weeks. The trouble for them last season was they didn’t win enough home games, that’s my only concern. They’re away at Fulham on Tuesday though. They’ve got five points too, but it could’ve been more when you consider that missed penalty against Wolves. But I think Brighton are really “on it” at the moment so I’d expect them to get away with a 2-1 win.
Lawro: Fulham 1 – 2 Brighton
Malcolm: Fulham 1-1 Brighton
Result: Fulham 2-1 Brighton
Southampton v Chelsea
Tuesday 7.45pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: Southampton are a little bit unlucky with how the fixtures have fallen, with United on Saturday and Chelsea up next. I feared the worst for them in the opening few games but they’ve played like a team who have enough to hang on, and they’ve a decent manager too which helps.
I’d still fancy Chelsea to win this 2-0 though. The last thing you need in a Premier League game is someone sent off in the first half, so Chelsea did well on Saturday to win after Conor Gallagher’s red card. They might’ve signed another three players by tomorrow to deal with that suspension, and they really could do with a striker to get 20 goals a season if they want to challenge, but they should have enough firepower on Tuesday night.
Lawro: Southampton 0 – 2 Chelsea
Malcolm: Southampton 1 – 3 Chelsea
Result: Southampton 2-1 Chelsea
Leeds v Everton
Tuesday 8pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: Everton could take something from the Brentford game – and not just the point – because of the way they held on. Everyone knows their problems are up front though. Calvert-Lewin’s unavailable and they’re desperately trying to get a striker in. They’ve got Neal Maupay in now, who could be a decent signing, but they still need more I think.
Leeds are at home here and will pile the pressure on Everton. I can see them winning 2-0. That’d represent a really good start to the season for them despite the loss at the weekend.
Lawro: Leeds 2 – 0 Everton
Malcolm: Leeds 2 – 0 Everton
Result: Leeds 1-1 Everton
Arsenal v Aston Villa
Wednesday 7.30pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: Villa’s run of poor form isn’t just from this season, it was showing at the tail-end of last year too. They’ve really struggled to win games and that hasn’t changed despite signing quite a few players. It looks to me they haven’t got the system right at the moment. You won’t get a lot of time in football to put that right in the Premier League and they were booed off at the weekend so Steven Gerrard will expect a much more positive performance on Wednesday.
Arsenal are scoring from all areas though and look a very good team at the moment. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re finishing in the top three or four because you really never know with them, that’s always been the problem, but I’d fancy them to get another win and wouldn’t be surprised if it finished 2-0 to the Gunners.
Lawro: Arsenal 2 – 0 Aston Villa
Malcolm: Arsenal 3 – 0 Aston Villa
Result: Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa
Bournemouth v Wolves
Wednesday 7.30pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: After losing 9-0 on Saturday, Bournemouth have to tell themselves that it’s not results against Liverpool and City that are going to decide their fate, it’s games against Wolves and other teams who could be around them in May. It’s a big ask to turnaround so quickly after a loss like that though. Wolves are a bit of an enigma. They’re another team that just don’t score enough goals but who are usually really difficult to play against. They’ll be gutted to have conceded so late in the game against Newcastle, but I think they can get a result here, 2-1.
Lawro: Bournemouth 1 – 2 Wolves
Malcolm: Bournemouth 2 – 1 Wolves
Result: Bournemouth 0-0 Wolves
Manchester City v Nottingham Forest
Wednesday 7.30pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: 4-0. Next.
Seriously, Forest are competitive and gave Tottenham a good game, but you go to City and you don’t see the ball for most of the game – you might get 25% possession if you’re lucky. You’re expected to score in that time, and you know that your keeper is going to get peppered, so 4-0 to Man City seems a reasonable shout again.
Lawro: Man City 4 – 0 Nottingham Forest
Malcolm: Man City 4 – 1 Nottingham Forest
Result: Manchester City 6-0 Nottingham Forest
West Ham v Tottenham
Wednesday 7.45pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: That was a big win for West Ham against Villa. I can only see them getting better too as they’ve bought some really quality players over the summer and are working them into the team. Tottenham have been really good this season apart from the first half at Chelsea where they were torn apart. I can see this being a really tight, closely-fought derby and would expect it to finish in a 1-1 draw – provided no one messes with the pre-match lasagne.
Lawro: West Ham 1-1 Tottenham
Malcolm: West Ham 2 – 2 Tottenham
Result: West Ham 1-1 Tottenham
Liverpool v Newcastle
Wednesday 8pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: It remains to be seen if their new £60m striker is ready for Newcastle’s trip to Anfield, but what we do know is that they’re very good defensively under Eddie Howe. I think we can all imagine the way they’re going to play at Liverpool, sitting in and hoping to contain their opponents.
The gloom has lifted around Liverpool after Saturday’s result. The fact they scored nine goals is just mad when you think about it – you might say they should’ve saved a few of those for Wednesday night! I’ll still go for them to make it back-to-back wins, though Newcastle might nick a goal. 2-1 to Liverpool is my prediction.
Lawro: Liverpool 2 – 1 Newcastle
Malcolm: Liverpool 3 – 0 Newcastle
Result: Liverpool 2-1 Newcastle
Leicester v Manchester United
Thursday 8pm, BT Sport
LAWRO: What is happening at Leicester? They’ve barely brought in anyone and seem to be selling everybody. That sounds to me like the owners are saying we’ve got to cut our cloth to suit now. The problem is you end up selling your best players then. I feel a bit sorry for Brendan Rodgers at the moment. Wesley Fofana and Youri Tielemans could be gone by the time they play this game.
In many ways, for me, Man United’s win at Southampton was better than the Liverpool one because it’s one where you wonder can they repeat that great performance from the previous game. They weren’t as good at St Mary’s, but they still got a really good result and would expect to build on that now. I’ll go for a 2-1 win for them at Leicester.
Lawro: Leicester 1 – 2 Man United
Malcolm: Leicester 1 – 2 Man United
RESULTS
Some surprise results on Tuesday meant out battling boys headed into Wednesday’s action locked in a 0-0 stalemate. However, our Lawro ground our challenger into the dust to take an unassailable 8-4 lead into Thursday with two correct scores on Wednesday, West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham and Liverpool’s 98th minute win over Newcastle. Unlucky Malcolm, you had a good crack but it means our jackpot rolls over to £150 for the weekend!
Just 2 points in it – the tension is unbearable!
And here’s how the table should look going into the midweek games, according to Lawro – it makes for pleasant viewing for Spurs fans at the moment…
All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
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