For the first time this season the Model has to admit it is not the best Premier League forecaster around (at least compared with two real life people). Keeping score over the first 5 rounds using the BBC Sport system, Paul Merson has now overtaken it, achieving a total of 540 points (an average of 108 per round), compared with the Model’s tally of 520 (an average of 104 per round). Mark Lawrenson has had a poor start to the season by his standards, scoring just 320 points (an average of 64 per round).

Scorelines Results “Lawro” pts
Model Lawro Merson
Total 7/50 31/50 520 320 540
5: 15-17 Sep 1/10 5/10 80 70 160
4: 1-2 Sep 1/10 7/10 100 70 80
3: 25-27 Aug 2/10 5/10 110 40 110
2: 18-20 Aug 0/10 5/10 50 60 100
1: 10-12 Aug 3/10 9/10 180 80 90