Sourced from BBC article
Premier League predictions: Lawro v Rick Witter and Joe Johnson from Shed Seven
Show/hide article…
Bournemouth’s visit to Manchester United last season proved to be an an eventful encounter - how will the Cherries fare when they go back on Wednesday?
BBC Sport football expert Mark Lawrenson says: "Bournemouth picked up a point last time, but I do not see that happening at Old Trafford this time around.
“Manchester United just have to bounce back from the disappointment of Sunday’s derby defeat, and forget about where it leaves their title hopes.”
Lawro is going for a 2-0 United win - do you agree? You can make your own predictions now, take on Lawro and other fans, create your own league and try to make it to the top of the table by playing the new-look BBC Sport Predictor game.
Lawro scored 60 points in week 16, which meant he slipped to 3,965th place out of more than 320,000 users.
He will be making a prediction for all 380 top-flight games this season, against a variety of guests.
Lawro takes on Rick Witter and Joe Johnson from indie band Shed Seven for the midweek Premier League fixtures.
United fan Rick and City supporter Joe took time out from Shed Seven’s UK tour to watch Sunday’s Manchester derby - although Joe was definitely keener to talk about it afterwards.
“We looked a bit over-awed on Sunday, which is crazy really because we are talking about United here,” singer Witter told BBC Sport.
"The first half in particular was quite difficult to watch, until the very end anyway. It is very frustrating, because we have got the talent there.
"City had their tails up because they have been winning so many games but it is very annoying for them to come to our place and dominate the way they did. That definitely should not be happening.
“And you cannot moan and blame referees over penalty decisions after a game like that - we just need to play better, it is as simple as that.”
Guitarist and keyboardist Joe added: "I don’t really enjoy derby games, unless we are about three goals up - it is only then when I can relax.
"But Sunday was just exhilarating. I was surprised at the end to see the possession (City had 65%) and passing stats (City played 606 passes, United had 329) were so one-sided in our favour because right until the end it felt like it could go either way, especially at the end when Ederson saved us.
"We are 11 points clear at the top now but I would not say the title race is over.
"I am very confident because of how we are playing but I’ve always been the sort of fan to exercise caution because I’ve seen our form fall apart in December or January before, even in the seasons where we went on to win the title.
“We never do things the easy way, or at least we have not done it so far - although admittedly there does seem to be something different about us this season, an element of tenacity as well as the seamless stylish stuff we play when we have possession.”
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.
All kick-offs 19:45 GMT unless otherwise stated.
Stoke are in a bit of a mess at the moment, as Tottenham showed when they took them apart on Saturday.
This is the first time since the Potters were promoted to the Premier League in 2008 that I am looking at them and thinking they are in serious danger of relegation.
Their better attacking players are not performing well enough on a regular basis and, while they used to be so reliable defensively, they have been conceding some awful goals - especially against Spurs.
Burnley, in contrast, are extremely well organised and just keep on picking up points.
They beat Watford 1-0 on Saturday and could have had more goals in that game. I don’t think Stoke will cause them too many problems.
Joe’s prediction: I don’t have a lot of faith in Stoke manager Mark Hughes. I never really had that much faith in him when he was at City really.
We did not really have much flair under him, despite us having some very good players when he was in charge, and he never looked like being the manager to bring us some success. 1-0
I could not believe what I was seeing when I watched Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke decide he was taking his side’s injury-time penalty against Bournemouth on Saturday.
It was very odd but I don’t think Eagles boss Roy Hodgson will dwell on it and in fact he can use it in a positive way by saying to Benteke “look, you owe us” after his miss cost them three points.
Palace are back on the bottom of the table after their draw with the Cherries but that should not disguise the fact they look a decent side now and have a real go at teams, especially at home.
Watford are no pushovers, but I think Palace will edge this at Selhurst Park.
Chelsea never got going in their defeat by West Ham on Saturday, while Huddersfield benefited from a similar non-performance by Brighton to beat the Seagulls.
Apart from N’Golo Kante, no-one played at the level you would expect from Chelsea’s players, and they paid the price.
I think we will see a reaction from Antonio Conte’s side on Tuesday and I don’t think he will allow them to drop points in successive games.
Huddersfield have already beaten Manchester United at John Smith’s Stadium, and pushed Manchester City all the way.
They will fancy themselves again here, and are likely to revert to a defensive approach, but Chelsea have a lot of scrappers in their squad and I do not worry about them in a game like this because they will fight hard, and have got more quality too.
Joe’s prediction: Huddersfield gave City a good game recently, and they obviously gave United an even better game when they beat them earlier in the season. I think they will push Chelsea close too. 2-3
You have got to give Everton credit for the way they stuck at it in Sunday’s Merseyside derby and ended up getting the draw that they came to Anfield for.
When I was watching Newcastle’s defeat by Leicester, I sat there thinking which players from Newcastle’s starting XI would get into Leicester’s team.
The answer was none of them would, which tells you a lot about what Magpies boss Rafa Benitez is up against there.
With the run that Newcastle are on, with just one point from their past seven games, getting anything from this game would represent a bit of progress.
Everton have already achieved that since Sam Allardyce arrived at the end of November, on the back of a 4-0 win over a very poor West Ham side in David Unsworth’s final game as caretaker.
The Toffees are unbeaten in four matches now in all competitions, and will have been lifted further by the way they got their point against Liverpool.
Rick’s prediction: Everton were on a really bad downwards spiral but they have already picked themselves up under Big Sam. 1-2
Leicester boss Claude Puel returns to St Mary’s Stadium on the back of three straight wins and I think they will end up in seventh place at the end of the season, which shows what a good team they are.
I am not sure what Puel has done behind the scenes but he is getting the best out of players right through this Foxes team, who look absolutely solid.
Southampton will be disappointed that they did not beat Arsenal on Sunday because of the amount of chances they had, and they are another tidy team.
Charlie Austin has given them a cutting edge to go with their neat build-up play and they are another side who should be looking for a top-half finish.
Swansea had to fight hard to see off West Brom on Saturday, and it is asking a lot for them to do the same against the leaders.
I thought it was men against boys when Manchester City beat Manchester United at Old Trafford, despite Jose Mourinho’s protestations after the game about luck and refereeing decisions going against him.
I know it was the Manchester derby but sometimes it is just better for the losing manager to say something along the lines of “on the day, they were a better team” because, in this case, City were.
Rick’s prediction: It pains me to say it but I am going to go for a City win, even though I would really rather that scoreline was the other way around. 0-3
Joe’s prediction: What used to really annoy me about United fans was how they always just expected to win every game. I would see Rick’s face when they didn’t and I would be like “come on, you can’t win all the time”.
That’s why I don’t want to be complacent now, thinking we are going to beat everyone, or that the title is already ours, but I do think we will beat Swansea.
We’ve got a big game on Saturday against Tottenham so Pep Guardiola might put out a weakened team, but I still think we will win. 0-2
The fact that Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino started the game against Everton on the bench was always going to be one of the stories that came out of the derby if Liverpool did not win it.
True, the Reds did not make a hatful of brilliant chances at Anfield - but they still made three or four outstanding ones, enough to have won comfortably.
The one that stands out is when Sadio Mane chose to go for goal himself when the score was 1-0 instead of setting up a team-mate, because he is usually so selfless and that would have finished the game off.
But, while I understand why Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was frustrated, he was wrong to maintain that Everton should not have got a penalty and I think he realised that a bit later on.
It goes without saying that losing to Swansea is a poor result for anyone at the moment, and that was a setback for new West Brom boss Alan Pardew in his second game in charge.
He needs to get his first win soon, but I don’t see the Baggies getting it at Anfield, especially because I imagine that the players Klopp rested on Sunday will start this game.
Bournemouth were the beneficiaries of Christian Benteke’s penalty miss on Saturday, although I would not say they were fortunate to end up with a point because they also had several chances in that game.
The Cherries have drawn three of their past four games, but it is hard to look past a United win even if they will have to do a lot better in attack than they managed against City.
United striker Romelu Lukaku has come in for a bit of stick of late and I think his loss of form is partly down to him, and partly down to the way the team is playing.
Lukaku is not a poacher like Harry Kane or Sergio Aguero. They are both strikers who, if you give them three chances, will definitely score one of them - the Belgian needs more than that.
The bigger issue with Lukaku is that, when he does not score, he does not contribute enough elsewhere to make up for it. He is fast and strong but he does not impose himself on defenders physically.
It does not help that his touch is not the best either. You can improve that, of course, and I think Lukaku will get better - but he also has to work harder too.
Rick’s prediction: It usually frustrates me a lot when people say in October, November or December that the title race is over, because a team has a few more points.
But in this particular instance, what happened in Sunday’s derby said a lot about the gap between City and the rest. We are playing for second place now, which is not a particularly good thing to be saying at this stage of the season.
United have been blowing hot and cold recently but I think we will win this one comfortably enough.
We are playing a gig in Bournemouth on Tuesday night so hopefully I won’t get any stick for this prediction from any angry Cherries fans. 3-0
Joe’s prediction: I am being realistic - a United win is probably quite achievable for them because, apart from City, they have rolled a lot of teams over at Old Trafford, and Bournemouth’s form has been very up and down recently. 2-0
Tottenham put on a White Hart Lane performance at Wembley when they beat Stoke 5-1 on Saturday.
They created so many chances which is something they have not done at home very often this season, other than their 4-1 win over Liverpool in October.
Brighton will look to tighten up after their defeat at Huddersfield at the weekend, and they will have to be much better than they were in that game.
But I still only see one outcome for Seagulls boss Chris Hughton against the club he played at and coached at for years.
I thought West Ham did really well to hold on for their win against Chelsea because, watching the game, I thought they might have scored too early.
It was a big game for David Moyes, who got his first win as West Ham boss in his fifth game in charge.
I said after the Hammers lost out to a late Manchester City winner in their previous match that their performance had given them something to build on and they will have even more confidence now.
They also have Michail Antonio fit again, who gives them pace and movement up front as well as a physical presence, and as a team they are working hard and giving themselves the best possible chance in games.
That is why I am backing them to get something out an Arsenal team who started slowly against Southampton on Sunday and ended up dropping more points.
From the last round of games, Lawro got three correct results, including one perfect score, from 10 matches, for a total of 60 points.
He beat Pointless presenter Richard Osman who got two correct results with no perfect scores, giving him 20 points and leaving him bottom of the guest leaderboard.
*Foster and Cram both provided predictions on week one, but only Foster’s score contributes to the guest total.
**Anderson and Moeen both provided predictions on week nine, but only Anderson’s score contributes to the guest total.
Lawro’s worst score: 40 points (week four v Umenyiora and Bell, and week five v Non Stanford)
Go to the original article…
...lewdly instigated by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 