March 6, 2017

Lawro's Premier League predictions v former England cricket captain David Gower

BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson will be making a prediction for all 380 Premier League games this season against a variety of guests.

Lawro's opponent for this weekend's Premier League fixtures is former England cricket captain David Gower.

Gower became a commentator after retiring but is currently on a tour of the country in a stage show with his friend Chris Cowdrey, another former skipper of the national side.

The 59-year-old is now a Leicester fan but, as a boy, his football heroes played for a different club.

"Having played cricket for Leicestershire [from 1975 to 1989], the obvious team for me to support was Leicester City, bless them," Gower told BBC Sport.

"But growing up, when I was a schoolboy watching football for the first time, Leeds United were the best team at the time - so obviously I had to support the best team.

"So the likes of Billy Bremner, Eddie Gray, Allan Clarke, Jack Charlton and Peter Lorimer were my favourites, although it was a very long time ago."

Gower's old England team-mate Sir Ian Botham famously combined his cricket career with a stint in the Football League with Scunthorpe United.

But Gower, a stylish left-handed batsman, says that was never an option for him.

"On a scale of 0-100, my chances of playing professional football always rested at zero," he explained. "Part of the problem was that at school I played with the wrong shaped ball - rugby that is, not cricket."

You can make your Premier League predictions now and compare them with those of Lawro and other fans by playing the BBC Sport Predictor game.

Premier League predictions - week 27
Result Lawro Gower
SATURDAY
Man Utd v Bournemouth 1-1 2-0 2-0
Leicester v Hull 3-1 2-0 2-0
Stoke v Middlesbrough 2-0 2-0 1-1
Swansea v Burnley 3-2 1-1 2-0
Watford v Southampton 3-4 2-1 1-2
West Brom v Crystal Palace 0-2 1-1 1-1
Liverpool v Arsenal 3-1 2-1 1-1
SUNDAY
Tottenham v Everton 3-2 2-0 3-2
Sunderland v Man City 0-2 0-2 0-3
MONDAY
West Ham v Chelsea x-x 0-2 1-1

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

Last weekend, Lawro got seven correct results, including two perfect scores from eight Premier League matches, for a total of 130 points.

He beat Let It Shine judge Martin Kemp, who got five correct results with no perfect scores, for a tally of 50 points.

They both correctly predicted the outcome of Sunday's EFL Cup final, although that game does not count towards their totals

Lawro and Kemp can still pick up extra points for their predictions for the Premier League games which were postponed at the weekend because of the EFL Cup final - Man City v Man Utd and Southampton v Arsenal.

Total scores after week 26
Lawro 2,460
Guests 1,970

LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS

All kick-offs 15:00 GMT unless otherwise stated.

SATURDAY

Man Utd 1-1 Bournemouth

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Gower's prediction: 2-0

Leicester 3-1 Hull City

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Gower's prediction: 2-0

Stoke City 2-0 Middlesbrough

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Gower's prediction: 1-1

Swansea 3-2 Burnley

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

Gower's prediction: 2-0

Watford 3-4 Southampton

Lawro's prediction: 2-1

Gower's prediction: 1-2

West Brom 0-2 Crystal Palace

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

Gower's prediction: 1-1

Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal

Lawro's prediction: 2-1

Gower's prediction: 1-1

SUNDAY

Tottenham 3-2 Everton (13:30 GMT)

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Gower's prediction: 3-2

Sunderland 0-2 Man City

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

Gower's prediction: 0-3

MONDAY

West Ham v Chelsea (20:00 GMT)

West Ham's poor start to the season seems a distant memory now but Chelsea just keep finding a way to win games.

That is why I would back the Blues to get a win at the London Stadium and also why I don't see anyone catching Antonio Conte's side at the top of the table.

I __have mentioned Manchester City striker Aguero as a player who has been out of the team and not made a fuss, well, Cesc Fabregas has done the same for Chelsea.

Fabregas has come into the team and looked fantastic and, along with Willian, is a great example of the depth they __have got - Chelsea can make three or four changes and it does not seem to weaken their team whatsoever.

The Hammers have only lost one of their past six league games, and beat Chelsea in the EFL Cup in October, but I am going with the leaders to pick up another three points.

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

Gower's prediction: 1-1

Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.

Lawro v Guests
P26 W18 D0 L8
SCORE GUEST LEADERBOARD
150 Elis James
130 Boris Becker, James McAvoy, Tim Vine
120 Robbie Williams
110 Michael van Gerwen
100 Joe Clarke, Osi Umenyiora
95 Lawro (average after 26 weeks)
90 Josh Franceschi, Colin Murray
80 Nicole Scherzinger, Loyle Carner
70 Dave Bautista, Sam Burgess, Athletico Mince
60 Rick Astley
50 Martin Kemp, Charlie Sloth, Laura Kenny
40 Ed Balls
30 Michael Bisping, Blossoms, American hip-hop duo Run The Jewels
20 Moeen Ali, Lloyd Griffith

* Does not include scores from postponed games.

Lawro's best score: 140 points (week 22 v James McAvoy)

Lawro's worst score: 30 points (week four v Dave Bautista)

+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION
POS TEAM P W D L PTS +/-
1 Liverpool 26 18 8 0 62 +4
2 Arsenal 25 18 6 1 60 +2
3 Man City 25 18 5 2 59 0
4 Chelsea 26 18 4 4 58 -3
5 Man Utd 25 17 7 1 58 +1
6 Tottenham 26 15 8 3 53 -4
7 Leicester 26 15 6 5 51 +8
8 Everton 26 7 16 3 37 -1
9 West Brom 26 9 7 10 34 -1
10 Crystal Palace 26 8 9 9 33 +8
11 West Ham 26 8 8 10 32 -2
12 Stoke 26 7 8 11 29 -2
13 Sunderland 26 7 7 12 28 +7
14 Bournemouth 26 5 7 14 22 0
15 Middlesbrough 26 4 7 15 19 +2
16 Southampton 25 4 6 15 18 -3
17 Burnley 26 3 8 15 17 -6
18 Watford 26 3 6 17 15 -6
19 Swansea 26 3 5 19 14 -3
20 Hull 26 0 3 23 3 -1

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