The January transfer window shut on Monday – so will any of the last-minute deals change the direction of the title race?
“The big moves haven’t happened this month,” said BBC football expert and former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson. “I know Liverpool got some new defenders, but they just needed cover, really.
“In any case, the most important thing for the Reds is that they have started firing in attack again. They have got some of their old swagger back, and Mohamed Salah’s second goal in their win at West Ham was sensational.”
This transfer deadline day, Lawro is supporting Cancer Deadline Day, a new campaign for 2021 where fans can donate to eight selected cancer charities on behalf of their favourite club.
More than 50 football clubs from the Premier League, Women’s Super League, Scottish Premier League, English Football League and non-league have signed up in support of the campaign and other celebrity supporters include Alan Shearer, Michael Owen and Jeff Stelling.
Lawro is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches this season, against a variety of guests.
For this week’s Premier League fixtures, being played from Tuesday to Thursday, he is up against Foo Fighters guitarist and Arsenal fan Chris Shiflett.
Foo Fighters’ 10th studio album, Medicine At Midnight, is out this week. Their latest preview track, Waiting On A War, is out now and they hope to hit the road again later this year.
“A bit like not having fans at games, the weirdest element of putting out an album at this time is not having shows to bounce the songs off the people,” Shiflett told BBC Sport.
“That’s always the most important element of a new record. I don’t know when it will be, but whenever we can go on tour, we will be ready to go.”
Chris is the only member of Foo Fighters who is a football fan, but Dave Grohl’s Scottish guitar tech Ally Christie knows his stuff. Chris says “he is far more knowledgeable than me”.This is the second time Chris has taken on Lawro – the last time was when their previous album, Concrete And Gold, was released in 2017, when he got 7/10 results correct and managed three exact scores to finish top of that entire season’s guest leaderboard with 160 points.
“The funny thing about that was I really did my research. I got with Dave Grohl’s old guitar tech Ally Christie, who is from Glasgow and a football nut.
“We went through all the fixtures and worked out the predictions… and then when I went to do it, I had picked the wrong set of games.
“So I was completely winging it. I thought some of my scores were pretty ridiculous, so it is nice to know they actually worked out OK. I am going to be more conservative with my scores this time, though.”
Chris was a talented footballer as a boy in California and became an Arsenal fan through his love of punk rock – cemented when his children grew up as GunnersChris is excited by the young players who have broken through at Arsenal in recent months and is convinced manager Mikel Arteta is the right man to bring success back to the club.
“Last season ended on a real high, so myself and Arsenal supporters everywhere were kind of expecting this season to build on that,” he explained. “Obviously we had a rough patch before Christmas, but it seems like we have found our feet and we are on a good run of form.
“It is great to see all the kids doing so well – that has kind of been the story of the season for us, with young players like Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka in the team and turning things around.
“Arteta deserves the credit for that. With each successive transfer window, you can see him tightening things up, but he is still giving the kids a chance, and overall he is building to something better and better. You can see what he is trying to do with the team and when it works it is fantastic.”
ResultLawroChrisTUESDAYSheff Utd v West Brom2-12-01-0Wolves v Arsenal2-12-01-2Man Utd v Southampton9-02-02-1Newcastle v Crystal Palace1-22-10-1WEDNESDAYBurnley v Man City0-20-20-3Fulham v Leicester0-20-20-2Leeds v Everton1-22-02-2Aston Villa v West Ham1-32-02-1Liverpool v Brighton0-12-03-1THURSDAYTottenham v Chelsea0-11-10-2A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.
LAWRO’S PREDICTIONSTUESDAY
Sheff Utd 2-1 West Brom Lawro’s prediction: 2-0
Chris’ prediction: 1-0
Match report
Wolves 2-1 ArsenalLawro’s prediction: 2-0
Chris’ prediction: 1-2
Match report
Man Utd 9-0 SouthamptonLawro’s prediction: 2-0
Chris’ prediction: 2-1
Match report
Newcastle 1-2 Crystal PalaceLawro’s prediction: 2-1
Chris’ prediction: 0-1
Match report
WEDNESDAY
Burnley 0-2 Man City Lawro’s prediction: 0-2
Chris’ prediction: Manchester City are in form and favourites to win the title, so this could be three, four or even five-nil. 0-3
Match report
Fulham 0-2 Leicester Lawro’s prediction: 0-2
Chris’ prediction: Fulham are another team having a pretty terrible season. 0-2
Match report
Leeds 1-2 Everton Lawro’s prediction: 2-0
Chris’ prediction: Anything could happen here, but out of respect and deference of the Kaiser Chiefs, I am going for Leeds to get a draw. 2-2
Match report
Aston Villa 1-3 West HamLawro’s prediction: 2-0
Chris’s prediction: These are both good teams, although West Ham are in better form – up until the weekend anyhow. I wanted to throw in one wildcard pick, and this is it. I know Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath is a Villa fan, which is as good a reason as any to go with them. 2-1
Match report
Liverpool 0-1 BrightonLawro’s prediction: 2-0
Chris’ prediction: I was pleased to see Brighton beat Tottenham – good for them. Liverpool have gone through a rough patch but it seems like they are out of it now, and they will continue trying to close the gap at the top. 3-1
Match report
THURSDAY
Tottenham 0-1 ChelseaLawro’s prediction: 1-1
Chris’s prediction: 0-2
Match report
Lawro and Chris were speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.
How did Lawro do last time? From last weekend’s Premier League games, Lawro got four correct results from 10 matches, with no exact scores, for a total of 40 points.
He beat Lewis Evans from post-punk band Black Country, New Road who got three correct results, with no exact scores, giving him a total of 30 points.
TEAMPWDLPTS+/-1Man City201730540=2Chelsea21163251+5=2Man Utd2116325104Liverpool21146148-15Leeds20141543+76Tottenham2012444007Arsenal21123639+38Leicester21112835-4=9Southampton20821026+2=9West Ham2175926-4=9Wolves2168724+512Everton1958623-413Brighton21631221+414Burnley20551020+215Crystal Palace21461118-216Aston Villa19451017-717Newcastle21511516-218Sheff Utd21341413+219Fulham2030179-120West Brom2102192-1GUEST LEADERBOARD 2020-21110Sister Bliss, Amy Macdonald, Steve White90Adam Devonshire, Becky Hill80Celeste Dan Flint, Raye72Lawro (average after 21 weeks)70Lou Cotterill, Peter Hooton60Caroline Weir50Declan McKenna, Paul Smith, Alex Sprogis, DJ Target40Gavin ‘Mo’ Edgeley30Rick Astley, Lewis Evans, Fraser T. Smith20Charlie Forbes, Dougie Payne0Rema
You can stream all the goals and highlights from Sunday’s Premier League matches with Match of the Day 2 on BBC iPlayer