Lawrenson makes his final BBC predictions (and, yes, tips Liverpool to win)

The former Ireland international defender has spent 22 years antagonising Premier League fans with his choices

Hanging up the mic: Former Ireland player Mark Lawrenson Mandatory Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

After 22 years of antagonising top-flight fans every Premier League weekend, Mark Lawrenson is hanging up his predictions pen.

The former Ireland defender has found himself on the receiving end of, well, almost every fan base over the past two-plus decades as each weekend he made his Premier League predictions for BBC, where he has been a long-time leading pundit. 

Lawrenson began his weekly ritual on Football Focus, BBC Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sport website, way back in 2000, making over 8000 predictions since then, in more recent times going head to head with celebrities from the A-list to the lower echelons of the Z-list. Arnold Schwarzenegger was among those to trash talk the pundit as they went toe to toe. 

According to the BBC, Lawrenson's predictions "generate hundreds of thousands of page impressions each week - his record was 1.2m when he took on Rick Astley for the festive fixtures at Christmas 2020".

While Lawrenson insists his "average score is not too bad actually" he became particularly notorious for rarely favouring West Ham and more memorably, letting his Liverpool affiliations sway his choices — for quite some time. 

"Lawro was also responsible for the longest unbeaten run in English football history. Well, sort of," said the BBC.

"No, not the 49 games by Arsenal's Invincibles between May 2003 and October 2004 - this is the 159-game streak that Lawro tipped Liverpool to remain undefeated for, between May 2016 and November 2020."

Before last Saturday's FA Cup final, Lawrenson made his final appearance on Football Focus after 25 years on the show.