MARK LAWRENSON’S PREMIER LEAGUE PREDICTIONS
Nottingham Forest 1-2 Tottenham
Bournemouth 2-0 Luton
Chelsea 2-0 Sheffield United
Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace
Newcastle 2-1 Fulham
Burnley 1-1 Everton
Arsenal 2-0 Brighton
Brentford 1-1 Aston Villa
West Ham 1-0 Wolves
Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United
We’re hurtling towards the half-way stage of the 2023/24 Premier League season now as we gear up for another busy weekend in the top flight. We kick off this weekend with a 12.30pm clash as the entertaining Tottenham head to Nottingham Forest.
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There’s four 3pm games on Saturday before the meat and two veg Sean Dyche derby at 5.30pm as he takes Everton to battle with his former club Burnley at Turf Moor. Then there’s four games on Sunday with West Ham v Wolves on the telly at 2pm and the popcorn-at-the-ready Liverpool v Manchester United clash being the main event of the weekend at 4.30pm.
So, with so much action to get stuck in to it’s only right that we bring in our resident tipster and Premier League predicting guru, Mark Lawrenson who will be battling it out with a Paddy punter in our Challenge Lawro game. But first, here’s what Lawro’s crystal ball has revealed this weekend.
Friday 8pm: Nottingham Forest v Tottenham
TV: Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League
Nottingham Forest were a but unlucky at Wolves but apparently the owner has said that, because they played quite well, he’s not going to sack Steve Cooper. How stupid is that? Just don’t say anything. If you look at Spurs’ points tally I think they would have taken that at the start of the season, especially with a new manager. Spurs won’t change the way they play so I’m going for them to win. Nottingham Forest 1-2 Tottenham.
Saturday 3pm: Bournemouth v Luton
Bournemouth are on a great run of four wins in their last five games which is as good as anybody in the division. Luton did well against Manchester City before the champions turned it round. I’m going for Bournemouth. The next step for Luton is that they’ve got to start picking up some points away from home. Bournemouth 2-0 Luton.
Saturday 3pm: Chelsea v Sheffield United
TV: Premier Sports 1
Sheffield United beat Brentford last week. Chelsea… that’s another story. I do fancy a Chelsea home win purely because it’s at Stamford Bridge and Sheffield United won’t want to come out and play, they’ll try and make it difficult. Even though Chelsea are the toss of a coin every time they play I still think they’ll beat them. Chelsea 2-0 Sheffield United.
Saturday 3pm: Manchester City v Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace were very, very unlucky against Liverpool to be honest. It just shows you how much strength the big teams have off the bench, especially when you look at the replacements that Crystal Palace had compared to Liverpool last weekend. I’ll go for a comfortable Man City win. Is Roy Hodgson under pressure? Not from those who run the club. Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace.
Saturday 3pm: Newcastle v Fulham
The free-scoring Fulham! The only problem is that Fulham can throw one in at the other end. I know they’ve scored an unbelievable amount of goals in the last few games but Newcastle don’t lose many home league games so I’ll go for them, even with all their injury problems. Newcastle 2-1 Fulham.
Saturday 5.30pm: Burnley v Everton
TV: Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League
The Sean Dyche derby! In many ways Burnley have said to Vincent Kompany, ‘Do your best to stay in the league,’ but they’ve bought players to get them back up again if they go down which is not a bad move. You can imagine what Sean Dyche will be like in the Everton dressing room: ‘There is no way we’re losing this game.’ Let’s go for a low-scoring draw. I think Dyche would take that. Burnley 1-1 Everton.
Sunday 2pm: Arsenal v Brighton
Brighton play on Thursday night and their results in the league aren’t that good when they’ve had a midweek match while Arsenal had the early game on Tuesday so they’ll be well rested. On paper this is probably the game of the weekend in terms of pure football. Arsenal 2-0 Brighton.
Sunday 2pm: Brentford v Aston Villa
This is going to be a really good test for Aston Villa. I don’t think they’re anything like the same team away from home playing that high line that teams like Brentford would normally punish. Brentford are missing some key players and Bryan Mbeumo’s now out too. Everybody’s got this love-in with Villa, and they are very, very good at home and they’ve got a good manager, but I don’t think they’re going to finish in the top four. I’m going to go for a draw. Brentford 1-1 Aston Villa.
Sunday 2pm: West Ham v Wolves
TV: Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League
Wolves drew with Nottingham Forest and West Ham got battered 5-0 at Fulham. I bet David Moyes was like a bear with three sore heads the morning after that. West Ham are playing on Thursday but I think they’re going to go strong. I fancy a narrow home win. West Ham 1-0 Wolves.
Sunday 4.30pm: Liverpool v Manchester United
TV: Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League
We could speak 10,000 words about Manchester United every week. I have no idea what’s going on there whatsoever. Bruno Fernandes is out, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw got injured during the week… God knows what shape they’ll be in. I’ll go for Liverpool but I think United will circle the wagons with five in midfield and one up front. Liverpool are close to full strength and they’re in good form so good luck! Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United.
So you’ve heard what Lawro has to say and, all throughout the 2023/24 Premier League campaign, Paddy’s going to be dishing out free bets to his shop customers who can out-shout our mighty game-guessing guru each and every match day.
The rules are simple, beating Lawro is the tricky bit
All you have to do is predict the score of every Premier League fixture every game week. Get the score bang on and you pocket three points, get the W-D-W result right and one point is added to your tally. Rack up more points than our Lawro and you’ve got £/€50 in free bets heading your way!
Easy, right? Well Lawro’s been in fine fettle this season and he’s edging Paddy’s punters 7 to 5 and we’ve also had a draw this season. However, John the West Ham fan in our Corringham shop in Essex clawed another point back for the punters in a close 6-4 win last weekend to make it two in a row for Paddy’s shop customers!
Looking to make it a hat-trick and bag a cool £/€50 in free bets is this time around is our Chris the Arsenal fan from Gravesend in Kent. Good luck, Chris!
Nottingham Forest 1-2 Tottenham
Bournemouth 2-0 Luton
Chelsea 3-0 Sheffield United
Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace
Newcastle 2-0 Fulham
Burnley 1-1 Everton
Arsenal 3-1 Brighton
Brentford 2-2 Aston Villa
West Ham 0-1 Wolves
Liverpool 4-0 Manchester United
The latest football odds are on PaddyPower.com now
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