I HAVE BEEN WON OVER BY WATFORD’S WOW FACTOR

THE game I’m most fascinated by this weekend is the FA Cup semi-final between Watford and Wolves. Regular readers will know how much I admire Nuno Espirito Santo’s side and I knew after Stoke played them last July they would have a good season. I said as much in the predictions I made last summer but I couldn’t gauge Watford. They have been a hard club for people on the outside to have an affinity for, simply because of the high turnover of managers and players. They don’t have household names and you don’t see kids coming through. But through this campaign, they have been superb and credit must be given where it is due. Javi Gracia has done a fantastic job and my mates who support Watford are pinching themselves at how things have gone. Nobody expected them to do so well. For Watford to get to an FA Cup final would be such a huge achievement but, equally, how good would it be for Wolves, in their first year back in the Premier League, to crown it with a trip to a Wembley final? They were excellent once again when they beat Manchester United on Tuesday and have already won at Wembley this season. It’s a difficult match to call but it will be a right contest as Wolves and Watford are the best teams outside the top six.