Skipper’s missing, but Hornets can still sting
THE penultimate home game of Town’s spell in the Premier League is coming up tomorrow as Javi Gracia’s side visit for a 3pm kick-off. What can Jan Siewert and his Terriers team expect from them?
NOTHING sums up Watford’s last couple of months better than this: across their last 11 games in all competitions, they have won every game not against top six opposition.
They have failed to score just twice in those 11 games (their league meetings against Liverpool and Arsenal) but have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last nine matches.
With Town’s remaining fixtures after Watford being away to Liverpool, at home to Manchester United and away to Southampton, this may be the best opportunity Siewert’s side will get to give the fans a lift with a couple of goals.
But they will need to stay wary at the back despite the absence of top scorer Troy Deeney, who will miss the game through suspension after picking up a red card in Watford’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal on Monday night.
Their next highest-scoring player, Gerard Deulofeu, is also a doubt. The former Everton and Barcelona man was scintillating as he scored twice in Watford’s 3-2 comeback win over Wolves in the FA Cup semi-final two weeks ago but limped off late on with an ankle injury that kept him out of the Arsenal game. GRACIA has generally preferred to line up his side in a 4-2-2-2 this season. As you might suspect, that makes them one of the narrowest sides in the Premier League. No side has put fewer crosses into the box than Watford (304), while in stark contrast, no side has put in more than Town (532).
That system was a favourite of West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini back in his days at Villarreal – the club where Gracia cut his teeth as youth team manager during the early days of Pellegrini’s reign.
However, over the last couple of games he has switched to a flexible 4-3-1-2 that becomes more like a 3-4-3 in possession, with full-back Daryl Janmaat tucking in as a third defender and Kiko Femenia moving from central midfield to wide right.
Deeney described his side as ‘big lumps’ earlier this season, and he said it with pride. Town can expect Watford to be very physical and very intense in the press.
This is not a side that looks to keep the ball for long spells. Only six sides have had less possession than Watford (45.3 per cent), and none of them (Crystal Palace, Brighton, Southampton, Burnley, Newcastle and Cardiff ) have made it to 40 points yet this season. TOWN hold the advantage over Watford across their three previous Premier League meetings, winning both games last season but losing earlier in this campaign.
Town’s biggest win of last season came at Vicarage Road in December 2017 as Town ran out 4-1 winners with goals from Elias Kachunga, Laurent Depoitre and two from Aaron Mooy. Tom Ince scored the only goal of the game in injury time when Watford visited last year.
Town’s trip to Vicarage Road in October ended with Roberto Pereyra, Deulofeu and Isaac Success all scoring in a 3-0 win.