It takes a knowledgeable (and brave) person to predict Premier League results in the very public forum of BBC Sport Online - especially this season.

That man is, of course, our own football expert Mark Lawrenson.

He may have consistently tipped West Ham to falter and - like almost everybody else on the planet - failed to forsee Leicester's incredible title-winning campaign.

West Ham's official Twitter account noticed after Lawro predicted them to lose 13 times by January and be dumped out of the FA Cup by Wolves

Indeed, if Lawro's predictions had all been correct, West Ham would have finished 17th with 34 points - 10 places lower and escaping relegation by a single point.

And he also had Leicester and Newcastle finishing in mid-table.

But you cannot argue with the facts over a full season. Lawro - who makes his predictions on a Thursday morning - outscored every single Premier League club's supporters by a healthy margin.

His season average of 76 points after 38 game weeks dwarves even the top-performing set of fans, Stoke City, who averaged 64.8 points across the season.

Spurs fans were the least knowledgeable - finishing bottom of the table with a 61.4. And those unforgiving West Ham fans? A respectable fourth-placed finish with a score of 63.8.

Lawro's Premier League predictions were a good source of material for the Upton Park crowd this season

"The West Ham fans gave me some stick earlier in the season because of my scores," Lawrenson told BBC Sport. "They even sang about my predictions at one game, which I've never had happen before.

"I know I've annoyed Southampton and Swansea before, to name but two teams… and I'm sure Swansea fans have noticed external-link that I have relegated them again, like last season.

"What I always say to anyone who asks me about my predictions is that if I could really seriously predict football results, I would be sitting on my ocean-going yacht, which would be moored off the Bahamas. But it is good fun, that is the main thing.

"It's nice to know I've done better than the fans but I would probably have a higher average score if I made my predictions as close to kick-off as they can.

"Some people have made a big deal about the league table based on my predictions, but when I am making them, I don't even look at it. I am trying to predict the right results that week, not balance it out so teams are closer to their actual positions.

"What Leicester have done in the Premier League this season shows how difficult it is to predict anything, really."

Lawro's end-of-season stats

Lawro v Guests P38 W21 D7 L10

SCORE GUEST LEADERBOARD 160 Nathan Caton 110 Nick Bright, Steve Cram, Sam Tomkins, SAM Super Computer 100 Carl Frampton, Adrian Lewis, Wealdstone Raider 90 Ice Cube & Kevin Hart, Amir Khan 76 Lawro (average after 38 weeks) 70 James, Guy Mowbray, Osi Umenyiora 60 Stuart Broad, Tim Burgess, Idris Elba & Richard Madden, Ed Skrein 50 Ben Hardy, Mark Radcliffe, Jack Whitehall, Felix White 40 Nobby Butcher, Fatman Scoop, Neville, Mumford & Sons, Michael B Jordan & Tony Bellew. James Skelly 30 Darren Campbell, Luol Deng, Anthony Joshua, Blake Harrison & Daniel Mays, Mark Webber, Steve Wilson 20 Graeme Swann 10 Elis James, Paul Heaton, Kelly Jones

Lawro's best score: 160 points (week 19 v Guy Mowbray and week 36 v Nathan Caton)

Lawro's worst score: 20 points (week one v Graeme Swann & week 23 v Ice Cube and Kevin Hart)