Troy Deeney ready for FA Cup final battle with ‘beast’ Vincent Kompany
Watford may be considered rank outsiders Saturday’s FA Cup final but Troy Deeney has promised to cause problems for Manchester City, insisting that he has the skill set to give Vincent Kompany and his treble-chasing rearguard a torrid afternoon.
City kept 20 clean sheets in their league campaign, conceding only once in each of the months of March, April and May, but the Watford captain insists that Pep Guardiola’s much-lauded side will not have it easy.
“I think if I play well they’ll have had a very difficult day,” he said. “If there’s a lot of crosses in the box, as much as I really respect Mr Kompany, he would say it’s not going to be an easy day. If I’m on my A-game it’ll be very difficult for whoever’s playing.”
Deeney is particularly relishing the prospect of a reunion with Kompany, saying the pair have “a lot of respect for each other” even if so far in their careers the Belgian has always prevailed. On the six occasions that the two players have faced each other the centreback not only has a 100% win record, he has actually outscored Deeney 1-0.
The Englishman did get a goal and an assist the last time the teams met in the FA Cup, five years ago, but neither happened while Kompany was on the pitch: the Belgian came off the bench at half-time with his team 2-0 down and inspired them to win 4-2. Deeney has additionally played four games against City that Kompany has missed through injury, also all lost.
“You’ve got to look at how many times he’s broken down injured,” the Watford captain said of his City counterpart. “How easy would it have been for him to just give up, or just go: ‘Right, it’s not for me’? But every time he comes back and he comes back bigger, better and stronger. He’s an absolute beast of a man and if you can’t respect that then you’ve got something wrong with you.
“Based on the conversations we’ve had he knows that whenever we’re going up against each other it’s going to be a real battle, and neither of us
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