Premier League predictions: Lawro v grime star & Wolves fan S-X

Image source, AFP

With Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane away at the Africa Cup of Nations, Liverpool drew a blank against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup on Thursday, but will things be different against Brentford on Sunday?

"They are not the same threat without those two, but the goals will come from somewhere," BBC Sport football expert Mark Lawrenson said. "They will just heap pressure on Brentford until they crack."

Lawro is making predictions for all 380 top-flight matches this season, against a variety of guests.

This week's guest is grime star and Wolves fan S-X, who has teamed up with rapper Trippie Redd for his new single, All Night, which was released on Friday.

Image source, Lee Malone

Image caption,

S-X starts his 2022 UK tour next week and his debut album will be released later this year

S-X, also known as Sam, grew up in Warstones in Wolverhampton and worked in Wolves' retail department before he made the breakthrough with his music.

Now the 28-year-old is a Grammy-nominated producer, singer and songwriter who has collaborated with some of the biggest stars from the industry.

He was appointed Wolves Records' A&R and production consultant when they became the first English club to launch their own record label in September, working as a talent scout and mentor, and is also an ambassador for the club's foundation.

"It is a kind of pinch myself moment every time I have any new involvement with them," S-X told BBC Sport.

"Wolves are my childhood team so I grew up with them - I am Wolverhampton born and bred, and I still live there. It's home and that means a lot to me.

"It's crazy that I actually used to work for Wolves, back in 2016. I was in the warehouse so if you ordered your online kit or any other merchandise off the club website it was probably me and my team who were sending it out to you.

"Now I really try to promote the club and the city I'm from wherever I go, and I'm very passionate about it. I remember in November 2019 I did KSI's walkout for his Logan Paul fight with Rick Ross and Lil Baby and I specifically got a Wolves shirt with 'The Boss' and number one on the back for Rick.

"I took that to Los Angeles for him and I was telling him all about my city. People respect it because they see my passion, and they are very passionate about where they come from too.

"I am one of the few people from Wolverhampton doing that in music and I want more people from here to be doing it in the future because at the moment it feels like we are only really known for the football team. It's mad how much more people know about the city and the club now we are in the Premier League, which is great, but I just want to keep spreading the word."

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S-X is Wolves through and through, but things would have been very different if he had listened to his family when he chose who to support.

"Most of them are Villa fans and they tried to persuade me to follow them when I was younger," he explained.

"I have got a bit of a soft spot for Villa because of that, but me and my mum moved to Wolverhampton quite randomly and it was always Wolves for me.

"I never used to get to go to league games at first, but I would go to pre-season friendlies because the tickets were only about £5.

"We played Liverpool one summer - I don't know what year it was, but I was very young - and I just remember looking at the grass on the pitch and thinking it looked like the lawn of some royal palace. I'd never seen grass like it and I wondered why they looked after the pitch so well.

"It was the first time as a kid I had a 'wow' moment at Molineux, just because I was there and I was watching Wolves play. It was like realising 'OK, this is the real thing!'

"I think it's the same with music - there is nothing like going and watching your favourite artist in person at a show, rather than just seeing it on a live stream. It's just not the same as being there."

Image source, Lee Malone

Image caption,

S-X's hero when he was growing up was Wolves' Scottish striker Kenny Miller. Now? "I love Adama Traore and I hope he stays forever. I sometimes see him in my local supermarket and want to yell 'don't leave!' at him," he said. "Daniel Podence is another favourite of mine too. He is just rapid with the way he just flies up the flanks and his crossing game is good as well. I'm a right-back when I play football so I am always watching the wings when I go to games, and that's why I really like Podence."

Premier League predictions - week 22

Result

Lawro

S-X

FRIDAY

Brighton v Crystal Palace

1-1

1-1

1-2

SATURDAY

Man City v Chelsea

1-0

2-1

1-0

Burnley v Leicester

P-P

P-P

P-P

Newcastle v Watford

1-1

2-1

1-2

Norwich v Everton

2-1

0-2

0-0

Wolves v Southampton

3-1

2-1

3-2

Aston Villa v Man Utd

2-2

2-1

0-2

SUNDAY

Liverpool v Brentford

3-0

2-0

2-1

West Ham v Leeds

2-3

2-0

0-2

Tottenham v Arsenal

P-P

P-P

P-P

P-P = Postponed because of a Covid-19 outbreak and/or a shortage of available players.

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

LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS

Games kick off at 15:00 GMT unless otherwise stated.

FRIDAY

Image source, BBC Sport

Brighton 1-1 Crystal Palace

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

S-X's prediction: Brighton have been playing well, but I am a bit of a Wilfried Zaha fan so I am going with Palace for that reason. Zaha to win it with a penalty. 1-2

SATURDAY

Image source, BBC Sport

Man City 1-0 Chelsea

Lawro's prediction: 2-1

S-X's prediction: It's going to be a close game but City will take it. 1-0

Image source, BBC Sport

Burnley P-P Leicester

This match was postponed because of a Covid outbreak.

Image source, BBC Sport

Newcastle 1-1 Watford

Lawro's prediction: 2-1

S-X's prediction: Newcastle need a win badly, but so do Watford and I just have a feeling the Hornets will edge it. 1-2

Image source, BBC Sport

Norwich 2-1 Everton

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

S-X's prediction: No goals in this one! 0-0

Image source, BBC Sport

Wolves 3-1 Southampton

Lawro's prediction: 2-1

S-X's prediction: This is going to be a tough game and it might be quite open too. 3-2

S-X on Wolves' season: Being a Wolves fan you have to be ready for ups and downs, but it feels like we are a solid Premier League club now, rather than worrying about relegation. It doesn't feel like we are a team that is going to win anything yet, but even when we lose games it doesn't feel like we are in danger of dropping out. At the beginning of the season I was a lot less certain about that, because we had a new manager and we didn't know what to expect. It just shows why you have to give these things time. Lage had to find his way with a new team when he arrived, but now he is doing really well.

Image source, BBC Sport

Aston Villa 2-2 Man Utd

Lawro's prediction: 2-1

S-X's prediction: Can Villa do what Wolves did a few days ago and beat United? No! Apologies to everyone in my family who are Villa fans, but I don't think United will let that slip. 0-2

SUNDAY

Image source, BBC Sport

Liverpool 3-0 Brentford

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

S-X's prediction: Brentford are a good team and they will have a real go - it feels like they could beat anyone, and also lose to anyone - but Liverpool are at home and should win this one. 2-1

Image source, BBC Sport

West Ham 2-3 Leeds

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

S-X's prediction: This is a hard one to call but I am going to go with Leeds. 0-2

Image source, BBC Sport

Tottenham v Arsenal

This game has been postponed due to a shortage of available Arsenal players.

Lawro and S-X were speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.

How did Lawro do last time?

From the Premier League fixtures on 1, 2 & 3 January, Lawro got four correct results from eight matches, with no exact scores, for a total of 40 points.

For now, it goes down as a win for Lawro, because his guest in week 21, KAWALA guitarist Dan McCarthy got three correct results with no exact scores, for a total of 30 points.

Guest scores for postponed Premier League games - week 21

Dan

Leicester v Norwich

3-0

Southampton v Newcastle

2-0

This week saw two rearranged games from week 18 played - Southampton beating Brentford 4-1 and West Ham overcoming Norwich 2-0.

Lawro went for a 2-1 home win in both games and got 10 points from each match, putting him on 50 points so far, with four more games from that set of fixtures still to be played.

At the moment it still goes down as a win for his guests, brothers Femi and TJ Koleoso from jazz band Ezra Collective.

They both wrongly went for a Brentford win on Tuesday but Femi picked up 10 more points after going for a 3-0 West Ham win on Wednesday and now has a score of 40. TJ correctly picked a 2-0 scoreline in that game and, as things stand, he has a score of 100 points - which counts in the scoreboards - and he could still add more to his tally.

Image source, BBC Sport

+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION

TEAM

P

W

D

L

PTS

+/-

1

Man City

21

18

3

0

57

0

2

Chelsea

21

15

6

0

51

0

3

Liverpool

20

14

6

0

48

0

4

Man Utd

19

15

2

2

47

+3

5

Leicester

18

11

5

2

38

+5

6

Leeds

19

12

1

6

37

+10

=7

Arsenal

20

10

4

6

34

-2

=7

Tottenham

18

9

7

2

34

-1

9

Aston Villa

19

8

4

7

28

+5

10

West Ham

21

7

6

8

27

-6

11

Brighton

19

7

4

8

25

-2

12

Southampton

20

6

3

11

21

-1

13

Crystal Palace

20

4

4

12

16

-1

=14

Newcastle

19

4

3

12

15

+5

=14

Wolves

19

4

3

12

15

-6

16

Burnley

17

4

2

11

14

+2

17

Brentford

20

4

1

15

13

-4

18

Everton

18

3

2

13

11

-3

19

Norwich

20

1

4

15

7

+1

20

Watford

18

1

3

14

6

-3

GUEST LEADERBOARD 2021-22

Score

Guest

130

Jamie Webster

110

Friction, She Drew The Gun

100

TJ from Ezra Collective

90

Dev from Idles

80

Tom McFarland

72

Lawro (average after 21 weeks)

70

Ben Cajee, Elena Cole, Jelani Blackman

60

Haydn Craven

50

Aqib Khan, Shaun Thomas

40

Femi from Ezra Collective, Dan Haggis of The Wombats, Murray & Tav from FUR, Justin Young

30

James Arthur, Dan McCarthy from KAWALA, Martin Noble, Roland Orzabal, Michael 'Venom' Page, Curt Smith, Roger Taylor, Zuzu

10

Tom Hughes

Total scores after week 21

Lawro

1,520

Guests

1,210

Lawro v Guests

P21

W15

D4

L2

Image source, BBC Sport

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