With four wins out of five games in all competitions since football resumed last month, Manchester United are the form team in the country, but will their good run continue against Aston Villa on Thursday?
BBC football expert Mark Lawrenson said: "Watching United now is not quite like watching the United of old - they have got a way to go to reach those levels.
"But where they are similar is in their relentlessness - they are at you all the time. It is if they say 'if you score two, we are going to score three' and that is going to make it very difficult for Villa to keep them out."
Lawro is making predictions for all 380 top-flight matches this season, against a variety of guests.
This week he is up against DJ Joel Corry, whose new single with MNEK, 'Head & Heart', is out now.
"I grew up as an obsessed Arsenal fan when I was a kid," Corry said. "I loved Highbury, I've got photos of me in a full goalkeeper's kit when I was seven and Ian Wright was my hero. He was my favourite footballer ever - I had his name on the back of my shirt and his number, eight, became my lucky number for life."
Corry is an Arsenal fan who is enjoying their upturn in form - the Gunners have won their past four games in all competitions.
He told BBC Sport: "There's been a couple of really good away wins in that run as well, which is especially nice for us because there have been times where we have really struggled on the road.
"We are looking up the table and really pushing for the top five now, which could be enough to get us back in the Champions League if Manchester City don't get their ban overturned. That would be huge.
"Our next three games are tough - Leicester, Tottenham and Liverpool - and we're Arsenal, so we know it could all go wrong, but things are definitely looking brighter under Mikel Arteta than they have done for a while."
Premier League predictions - week 34 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Joel | |
TUESDAY | |||
Crystal Palace v Chelsea | 2-3 | 1-1 | 0-2 |
Watford v Norwich | 2-1 | 2-0 | 3-1 |
Arsenal v Leicester | 1-1 | 1-2 | 2-1 |
WEDNESDAY | |||
Man City v Newcastle | 5-0 | 3-0 | 4-1 |
Sheff Utd v Wolves | 1-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 |
West Ham v Burnley | 0-1 | 2-0 | 2-2 |
Brighton v Liverpool | 1-3 | 0-2 | 0-2 |
THURSDAY | |||
Bournemouth v Tottenham | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1-3 |
Everton v Southampton | 1-1 | 1-1 | 1-1 |
Aston Villa v Man Utd | 0-3 | 0-2 | 1-3 |
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.
LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS
TUESDAY
Crystal Palace 2-3 Chelsea
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Joel's prediction: My dad is a Chelsea fan but there was no chance I was ever going to support them. It was Arsenal all the way for me. 0-2
Watford 2-1 Norwich
Arsenal 1-1 Leicester
Lawro's prediction: 1-2
Joel's prediction: The race for fifth will become so exciting if City do end up being banned from the Champions League and we find out before the last couple of weeks of the season. A win for Arsenal here would put us right in the mix and I am feeling pretty confident at the moment. Come on the Gunners! 2-1
WEDNESDAY
Man City 5-1 Newcastle
Sheff Utd 1-0 Wolves
West Ham 0-1 Burnley
Brighton 1-3 Liverpool
THURSDAY
Bournemouth 0-0 Tottenham
Everton 1-1 Southampton
Aston Villa 0-3 Man Utd
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Joel's prediction: 1-3
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
How did Lawro do last time?
From the last round of Premier League games, Lawro got seven correct results with no exact scores, for a total of 70 points.
He beat Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil, who got four correct results, with no exact scores for a total of 40 points.
+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TEAM | P | W | D | L | PTS | +/- | |
1 | Man City | 33 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 92 | +1 |
2 | Liverpool | 33 | 29 | 4 | 0 | 91 | -1 |
3 | Chelsea | 33 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 76 | +1 |
4 | Tottenham | 33 | 21 | 7 | 5 | 70 | +4 |
5 | Leicester | 33 | 17 | 6 | 10 | 57 | -2 |
6 | Man Utd | 33 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 54 | -1 |
7 | Arsenal | 33 | 15 | 8 | 10 | 53 | 0 |
8 | Wolves | 33 | 15 | 4 | 14 | 49 | -2 |
9 | Burnley | 33 | 14 | 6 | 13 | 48 | +1 |
10 | West Ham | 33 | 12 | 6 | 15 | 42 | +6 |
11 | Everton | 33 | 11 | 8 | 14 | 41 | 0 |
12 | Watford | 33 | 11 | 5 | 17 | 38 | +5 |
=13 | Aston Villa | 33 | 10 | 6 | 17 | 36 | +5 |
=13 | Bournemouth | 33 | 11 | 3 | 19 | 36 | +6 |
15 | Newcastle | 33 | 9 | 7 | 17 | 34 | -3 |
=16 | Sheff Utd | 33 | 7 | 6 | 20 | 27 | -7 |
=16 | Southampton | 33 | 7 | 6 | 20 | 27 | -3 |
18 | Brighton | 33 | 8 | 2 | 23 | 26 | -3 |
19 | Crystal Palace | 33 | 6 | 7 | 20 | 25 | -5 |
20 | Norwich | 33 | 3 | 7 | 23 | 16 | 0 |
GUEST LEADERBOARD 2019-20
Score | Guest leaderboard |
|---|---|
160 | Gabriel Luna |
140 | Arnold Schwarzenegger |
110 | Aitch, Daisy May and Charlie Cooper |
100 | Adam Peaty |
90 | Avelino, Helen Housby, Jo Harten, Bobby Seagull, Geraint Thomas |
80 | Tom Davis, Andy Murray, Stephen Graham |
76 | Lawro (average after 33 weeks) |
70 | David Baddiel, Richard Hawley, Kojo, Michael Johnson, Craig Mitch, Alex Scott |
60 | Sonny Bill Williams, Georgia, Al Greenwood, Katie Ormerod, Serge from Kasabian, Stefan Ratchford |
50 | Chelcee Grimes, Alex Horne, Reece Parkinson, Sam Warburton |
40 | Big Zuu, Stephen Fry, Hugh Grant, Tom Grennan, Neil Jones, Simon Neil, Tommy O'Dell, Steve Queralt |
30 | Sam Bird, Matthew McConaughey, Seth Rollins |
Total scores after week 33 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 2,500 |
Guests | 2,200 |
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P33 | W20 | D4 | L9 |
