Lawro's Premier League predictions v Line of Duty star Adrian Dunbar
- Published
BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson is pitting his wits against a different guest each week this season.
Lawro's opponent for this weekend's Premier League fixtures is actor Adrian Dunbar, who plays Superintendent Ted Hastings in BBC drama Line of Duty.
Dunbar is an Arsenal fan who was a long-term season-ticket holder at Highbury and the Emirates Stadium when he lived in nearby Crouch End.
He is optimistic about the Gunners' chances of beating Chelsea in next month's FA Cup final.
"At the end of a very difficult season for everyone, there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel," Dunbar told BBC Sport.
"I think we will be much happier playing Chelsea in the final than we would have been playing Tottenham - Spurs are ultimately a better side than Chelsea at the moment.
"So I think we've got a chance. Actually, while we've got Alexis Sanchez, we've always got a chance.
Line of Duty: Adrian Dunbar gives his north London derby predictions
Dunbar says his character in Line of Duty was based on a couple of football managers, but Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is not one of them.
"There are a whole lot of great managers that came out of the west of Scotland - Bill Shankly, Jock Stein and Sir Alex Ferguson," he explained.
"They had great man-management skill, there is no question about it - they were able to handle people.
"Hastings had to have the same skills, where he can get the best out of everybody. I am from not far away myself so I have kind of mined that quality for him a little bit."
So, does Hastings need to go into the Arsenal dressing room to try to get more out of their players?
"No, I think you would be wrong to think Wenger cannot drum our players up," Dunbar said. "I think he did it big time in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final.
"I wouldn't mind going in though, every now and again, giving them a wake-up call."
Premier League predictions - week 35 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | Adrian | |
SATURDAY | |||
Southampton v Hull City | 0-0 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
Stoke City v West Ham | 0-0 | 2-0 | 1-1 |
Sunderland v Bournemouth | 0-1 | 1-1 | 0-1 |
West Brom v Leicester City | 0-1 | 2-1 | 1-1 |
Crystal Palace v Burnley | 0-2 | 2-1 | 3-1 |
SUNDAY | |||
Man Utd v Swansea City | 1-1 | 2-0 | 3-0 |
Everton v Chelsea | 0-3 | 0-2 | 1-1 |
Middlesbrough v Man City | 2-2 | 0-2 | 0-2 |
Tottenham v Arsenal | 2-0 | 1-1 | 2-2 |
MONDAY | |||
Watford v Liverpool | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1-2 |
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.
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.
LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS
All kick-offs 15:00 BST unless otherwise stated.
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
Tottenham 2-0 Arsenal
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Adrian's prediction: This is going to be very difficult for Arsenal - Spurs are probably the best team in England at the moment. I would be happy with a draw but who knows? It is a one-off game and anything can happen. 2-2
MONDAY
Watford 0-1 Liverpool
Lawro's prediction: 1-2
Adrian's prediction: 1-2
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
Lawro v Guests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
P34 | W23 | D0 | L11 |
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 |
90 | Lawro (average after 34 weeks) |
90 | Josh Franceschi, Goldie, Amy Macdonald, Colin Murray |
80 | David Gower, Loyle Carner, Nicole Scherzinger |
70 | Dave Bautista, Sam Burgess, Anthony Crolla, Athletico Mince |
60 | Rick Astley, Jermaine Jenas Sting & son |
50 | Martin Kemp, Charlie Sloth, Laura Kenny |
40 | Ed Balls |
30 | Michael Bisping, Blossoms, CFC Fan TV, Full Time DEVILS, American hip-hop duo Run The Jewels |
20 | Moeen Ali, Lloyd Griffith, Charlie Nelson |
10 | Omid Djalili |
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 | 34 | 24 | 10 | 0 | 82 | +2 |
2 | Chelsea | 33 | 24 | 5 | 4 | 77 | -1 |
3 | Man City | 33 | 22 | 9 | 2 | 75 | +1 |
4 | Man Utd | 33 | 21 | 10 | 2 | 73 | +1 |
5 | Arsenal | 32 | 21 | 9 | 2 | 72 | +1 |
6 | Tottenham | 33 | 21 | 9 | 3 | 72 | -4 |
7 | Leicester | 33 | 20 | 6 | 7 | 66 | +8 |
8 | Everton | 34 | 9 | 18 | 7 | 45 | -1 |
9 | Crystal Palace | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 42 | +3 |
10 | West Brom | 33 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 40 | -2 |
11 | Stoke | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 38 | 0 |
12 | West Ham | 34 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 36 | +2 |
13 | Bournemouth | 34 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 32 | 0 |
14 | Sunderland | 33 | 8 | 8 | 17 | 32 | +6 |
15 | Burnley | 34 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 27 | +1 |
16 | Watford | 33 | 7 | 6 | 20 | 27 | -6 |
17 | Middlesbrough | 34 | 4 | 9 | 21 | 20 | +2 |
18 | Southampton | 32 | 4 | 8 | 20 | 20 | -9 |
19 | Swansea | 34 | 4 | 8 | 22 | 20 | -1 |
20 | Hull | 34 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 13 | -3 |
How did Lawro do last time?
From last weekend's Premier League matches, Lawro got three correct results, with no perfect scores, from the six matches, for a total of 30 points.
He beat Radio 1Xtra DJ Trevor Nelson, who got two correct results to score 20 points, but lost out to fellow MOTD pundit Jermaine Jenas, who got three correct results, including one perfect score, for a tally of 60 points.
In the FA Cup semi-finals, Nelson fared the best, correctly predicting that Chelsea would beat Spurs in normal time, while Lawro thought the Blues would win via penalties. Nobody picked Arsenal to win the other tie.
Lawro made the following predictions for the midweek Premier League games, but he did not have an opponent for all the games so not all the scores count towards his season totals.
Premier League predictions | ||
|---|---|---|
Result | Lawro | |
TUESDAY | ||
Chelsea v Southampton | 4-2 | 2-0 |
WEDNESDAY | ||
Arsenal v Leicester | 1-0 | 2-0 |
Middlesbrough v Sunderland | 1-0 | 0-0 |
Crystal Palace v Tottenham | 0-1 | 1-2 |
THURSDAY | ||
Man City v Man Utd | x-x | 1-1 |
Total scores after week 34 | |
|---|---|
Lawro | 3,050 |
Guests | 2,410 |