Sunderland make the trip to Vicarage Road this Saturday, aiming to earn our first three points away to Watford in 25 years. If we are successful, we’ll have started this season with 18 points from a possible 21.
FORM
The home side have managed just one win in their last five matches in all competitions, beating Plymouth Argyle 2-0 in the League Cup before losing out to Sheffield United, Norwich City and Manchester City as well as drawing with Coventry City. Their most recent fixture was the Man City one, where they lost 2-1 at the Etihad but actually got quite unlucky, having a goal disallowed for a very weak foul with no VAR to overrule the referee’s decision.
As for us we’ve gotten back to winning ways following a loss to Plymouth, besting Middlesbrough 1-0 at the Stadium of Light most recently. Prior to missing out in Devon we impressively beat Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley and Portsmouth whilst only conceding a singular goal. Romaine Mundle has been flying high for us, netting three times in his last four starts.
INJURIES/SUSPENSIONS
Watford have a number of players out injured, new centre back signing Kevin Keben remains unavailable because of a knee injury, first-choice goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann and Chilean international defender Francisco Sierrealta are both absent through muscle problems and right back Ryan Andrews (who scored for the Hornets in our most recent meeting) is a doubt for this one. Jeremy Ngakia (right back) misses out due to a quad injury. They currently have no suspensions.
Jenson Seelt and Niall Huggins remain long term absentees, both aren’t scheduled to return until late December/early January and striker Ahmed Abdullahi won’t be able to make his debut for us until early/mid December. Aji Alese is out until after the November international break and Salis Abdul Samed will need until after the October international break to catch his fitness up (he’s not injured he just hasn’t played since June). There is hope that Alan Browne will be able to return for this match and it’s the same story for Ian Poveda. Aaron Connolly won't feature in this one after joining the club earlier in the week. We also have no suspensions.
PREDICTIONS
Watford’s form looks bad but when you look at who they’ve been playing the defeats are quite understandable, Bramall Lane, Carrow Road and, of course, the Etihad, are never easy places to go. They’ve actually picked up seven points out of their last possible 15. This won’t be a walkover however I still think we will win this one by a narrow margin. I’m going to say 2-1 to us, we’ll take the lead early on and then Watford will get themselves an equaliser before a late-ish goal allows us to bring the points back up north.
Commenti