Premier League predictions: Lawro v Team Skys Geraint Thomas BBC Sports football expert Mark Lawrenson is pitting his wits against a different guest each week this season. His opponent for the next round of Premier League fixtures is Team Sky cyclist Geraint Thomas. The double Olympic gold medallist, who finished eighth in the Tour Down Under in January, has been keeping a keen eye on sporting events back home while preparing for his next race in Spain, the Ruta del Sol, which starts on 19 February. But, as a boyhood Arsenal fan who is also enjoying seeing his hometown team Cardiff in the top flight for the first time, the Welshman did not have much fun last weekend, especially when you add Wales heavy defeat by Ireland in the Six Nations into the equation. Saturday was a bad day all round! said Thomas, who followed all three matches from his flat in Monaco. I watched Wales and all of Swansea-Cardiff but I could not find a channel here showing the Arsenal game so I was following it on Twitter instead. The way things went, it was probably a good thing I couldnt watch it. I get to go to games when I am not away racing or training with Team Sky, usually in the autumn, but its quite easy to follow the football during the cycling season - we have it on the team bus and our driver is a mad Manchester City supporter who always has the games on. Im expecting to get a bit of stick for my predictions - the biggest football fan I know in the peloton is Steve Cummings, who used to be with Sky but is now with BMC. He is a Liverpool fan and I took him to the Emirates to see us beat them 2-0 in November. I got a text from him on Saturday, though, so he got his own back. ARSENAL V MAN UTD Manchester United are a mess at the back and, as we saw against Fulham on Sunday, the defensive cracks are getting wider. Phil Jones and Chris Smalling were bought by David Moyes predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson to be the future of their backline, but Jones has been injured and Smallings form has been OK, at best. Eighteen months ago they would arguably have been able to get away with that because, back then, you could play anyone with Nemanja Vidic and look solid, but that has changed. Arsenal had a total shocker at Anfield on Saturday and they were that bad that Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is probably best off not analysing it too much, and just moving on. I have no idea why Wenger did not circle the wagons for a bit after his side had just gone 2-0 down against a rampant Liverpool team inside 10 minutes. Instead he left things open, and they paid for it. United also have players that can hurt Arsenal but there is no way they will go out the same way that Liverpool did. They will sit a bit deeper and, if Arsenal also adopt a cautious approach, then I think this could end up in a draw. Lawros prediction: 1-1 Geraints prediction: Of late, Arsenal always seem to struggle against the big teams. Before the weekend, I was looking at the Liverpool game and this one and was hoping for four points out of six, and from a team trying to win the title you almost expect that. After we got thrashed at Anfield, this become a must-win game, and I reckon we will do it. 2-1 Why Arsenal? Well, my mum bought me the jersey when I was a small kid, which was the reason I started following them. All my mates were Man Utd fans and it felt good to support somebody else. Thierry Henry was my favourite player when I was growing up, and I really liked Marc Overmars too. Now it is Aaron Ramsey, a fellow-Welsh and Cardiff boy like myself. Lawro on Ozil; The last time they took a hammering against one of the other top teams - their 6-3 defeat by Manchester City in December - Arsenal showed what a good side they are by going on an unbeaten run that lasted for 10 games. Arsenal have some very good players and they will respond again. They have character in their team too. People have been questioning Mesut Ozil for the first time on the back of his display against Liverpool but the Premier League is a very unforgiving place. At Real Madrid, he might have been able to have 10 or 15 minutes off in the game, and he might not have been asked to track back either. He will learn that things are different here.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 03:05:29 +0000
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