Premier League predictions: Lawro v Roy Keane author Roddy Doyle
BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson is pitting his wits against a different guest each week this season.
Roddy Doyle's Premier League predictions
After a record-breaking points haul last time out, Lawro's opponent for this weekend's Premier League fixtures is author Roddy Doyle, the ghost-writer behind Roy Keane's new autobiography The Second Half.
Doyle, who won the Booker Prize for his 1993 novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, is a lifelong Chelsea supporter who goes to watch them four or five times a season. "I am one of these people who does not really like the summer, except when there is a World Cup on," he says.
He says he had few preconceptions before meeting Keane, explaining: "I had never met him, but I knew he would be an intelligent man after seeing him on TV, and that was the case.
"I had a sense very quickly that he would be affable, and I suppose that is not part of the cartoon version of him, as depicted.
Chelsea fan Doyle says "twice a year at least there was a time when Roy was not my favourite person"
"But, in my experience, Roy really is affable. It was a pleasure to be in his company but that didn't surprise me at all."
Premier League predictions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Lawro | Roddy | |
| SATURDAY | |||
| Man City v Tottenham | 4-1 | 2-0 | 3-1 |
| Arsenal v Hull | 2-2 | 2-0 | 2-0 |
| Burnley v West Ham | 1-3 | 1-1 | 1-2 |
| Crystal Palace v Chelsea | 1-2 | 0-2 | 0-2 |
| Everton v Aston Villa | 3-0 | 2-1 | 1-1 |
| Newcastle v Leicester | 1-0 | 2-1 | 1-2 |
| Southampton v Sunderland | 8-0 | 1-1 | 3-1 |
| SUNDAY | |||
| QPR v Liverpool | 2-3 | 0-2 | 1-2 |
| Stoke v Swansea | 2-1 | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| MONDAY | |||
| West Brom v Man Utd | x-x | 1-3 | 2-1 |
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth ONE point. Getting the exact score correct earns THREE points.
Last weekend, Lawro got nine correct results from 10 Premier League games, with four perfect scores. Only Burnley's injury-time equaliser against Leicester prevented him from making a clean sweep.
Even so, Lawro's total of 17 points surpassed his previous all-time best of 16, and saw him beat Tottenham legend Ossie Ardiles, who got seven correct results with no perfect scores, for a tally of seven.
We're keeping a record of the totals for Lawro and his guests (below), and showing a table of how the Premier League would look if all of Lawro's predictions were correct (at the bottom of the page).
Total scores after week 7 | |
|---|---|
| Lawro | 59 |
| Guests | 38 |
LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS
All kick-offs 15:00 BST unless otherwise stated.
SATURDAY
Man City 4-1 Tottenham
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Roddy's prediction: I think City will win quite comfortably. 3-1
Match report
Arsenal 2-2 Hull
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Roddy's prediction: Unfortunately, Arsenal will win. 2-0
Match report
Burnley 1-3 West Ham
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Roddy's prediction: It kills me to say it, because I don't like them but West Ham will win. 1-2
Match report
Crystal Palace 1-2 Chelsea
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Roddy's prediction: Chelsea will win and Diego Costa will score 30 seconds after the commentator says he is having a quiet day. 0-2
Match report
Everton 3-0 Aston Villa
Lawro's prediction: 2-1
Roddy's prediction: If it was this time last year, I would back Everton, but there is something wrong there at the moment. Aston Villa are quite solid despite recent results, so I am going for a draw. 1-1
Match report
Newcastle 1-0 Leicester
Lawro's prediction: 2-1
Roddy's prediction: There seems to be a lot of intelligence in the Leicester set-up and I think they will do a job on Newcastle. 1-2
Match report
Southampton 8-0 Sunderland
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Roddy's prediction: 3-1
Match report
SUNDAY
QPR 2-3 Liverpool
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Roddy's prediction: I'm not particularly keen on saying this but I think Liverpool will win. 1-2
Match report
Stoke 2-1 Swansea
Lawro's prediction: 2-1
Roddy's prediction: Stoke are better than their position in the table and I think they have to win a game soon. 2-1
Match report
MONDAY
West Brom v Man Utd (20:00 BST)
West Brom had a go at Liverpool at Anfield without ever looking as though they were going to pinch a point.
I am sure they will take the same approach against Manchester United, hoping for a more positive outcome, and after last season United already know just how dangerous Saido Berahino is up front for the Baggies.
Berahino celebrates after scoring West Brom's winner at Old Trafford last season
This will be a test for United, but I would expect Louis van Gaal's side to show some improvement at the back and be able to cope with it.
During the international break Van Gaal will have had the chance to take a step back and look at some of United's games and performances in his first few months in charge and work out where to go from here in terms of tactics and formations.
Lawro on the battle for fourth place... |
|---|
| That is going to be one of the stories of this season because a big club is going to miss out, it is just a question of who. I would pick my one-two-three now, which is Chelsea as champions then Manchester City and Arsenal, but after that it is extremely tough to call. Manchester United and Liverpool are the two main contenders - Everton could go on a really good run and still get there, but I doubt it, and Tottenham I am still not sure about - and they could end up having a big scrap for fourth. United have got the advantage that Liverpool had last season, which is no European football. That is a massive factor, as Liverpool are finding out - they are just about to start another run of seven games in 21 days, the same as they did in September and October. |
Looking at United, my seven-game summary of their prospects from what I have seen so far is that they will beat most of the teams in the Premier League, but not the top teams.
We will find that out for sure soon enough, because United play Chelsea and Manchester City in the next few weeks.
Even if I am right, and United fall short in those big games, Van Gaal probably thinks that his side are still good enough to finish fourth because the other teams going for that spot will also drop plenty of points.
Lawro's prediction: 1-3
Roddy's prediction: I have a feeling West Brom will win this one. United are starting to sing but their defence isn't great and I think West Brom are probably feeling quite good about themselves - they lost at Liverpool but they were quite good. 2-1
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| P7 | W5 | D1 | L1 |
| SCORE | GUEST LEADERBOARD |
|---|---|
| 10 | Liam Fray |
| 8.42 | Lawro (average after 7 weeks) |
| 7 | Ossie Ardiles |
| 5 | Joe Cole, Sarah Harding & Leon Fagbemi, Van McCann |
| 4 | Kell Brook |
| 2 | Neil Lennon |
Lawro's best score: 17 points (week seven v Ossie Ardiles)
Lawro's worst score: 5 points (week three v Sarah Harding and Leon Fagbemi)
ARROWS DENOTE DIFFERENCE TO REAL TABLE | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | DIFF | +/- |
| 1. | Chelsea | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 19 |  | 0 |
| 2. | Man Utd | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 17 |  | +2 |
| 3. | Man City | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 15 |  | -1 |
| 4. | Liverpool | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 15 | | +5 |
| 5. | Arsenal | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 14 | | +3 |
| 6. | Southampton | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 13 | | -3 |
| 7. | Tottenham | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | | -1 |
| 8. | Stoke | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | | +8 |
| 9. | Sunderland | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | | +4 |
| 10. | Crystal Palace | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 9 | | +5 |
| 11. | Everton | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | | +6 |
| 12. | Newcastle | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | | +6 |
| 13. | Swansea | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | | -8 |
| 14. | QPR | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | | +6 |
| 15. | Hull | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | | -4 |
| 16. | West Ham | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | | -9 |
| 17. | Leicester | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | | -5 |
| 18. | Aston Villa | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | | -8 |
| 19. | West Brom | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | | -4 |
| 20. | Burnley | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | | -1 |
No comments:
Post a Comment