Watford will be travelling to Kirklees Stadium for their Premier League fixture against Huddersfield Town on Saturday evening. Watford are coming off a 1-2 loss to Sean Dyche’s Burnley team and are on a 4-game winless streak. They were thrashed by Arsenal and Liverpool earlier in March, 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.
Javi Gracia’s side did have a decent run earlier in the year when they got to beat Chelsea by 4 goals to 1 and seemed to be on a path towards rejuvenation. But the managerial transition has been tough, not to mention the player injuries that are racking up.
They are still within earshot of a relegation drop to the Championship and all it takes is a final minute slip up to make it happen. Southampton sit just 9 points away in the 18th spot of the table and have 5 games to play catch up.
Which means Watford will have to use their 12th placed odds to stay clear of the bottom half teams. We have all seen Newcastle United and Bournemouth overtake the Golden Boys in the table and boost themselves out of the relegation conversation which makes this tie equally important.
The hosts demolished them in the previous fixture back in December by a 3-goal margin while at Vicarage Road. The match ended 1-4 with a player sent off from both sides.
A repeat of that incident and the double is not in Gracia’s plans as he looks to get his team back to winning ways. Here is how the Spaniard will field his team on gameday.
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Defence
Orestis Karnezis is the first choice in between the sticks. Heurelho Gomes lost his spot after going with an injury earlier in the season.
Daryl Janmaat should find himself in the right-back position with Jose Cholebas on the other end.
Sebastian Prödl is expected to pair up with Adrian Mariappa in the centre-back positions. Christian Kabasele could return from his hamstring injury in this fixture and Craig Cathcart has been ruled fit.
Midfield
Abdoulaye Doucouré might get paired up with Etienne Capoue in the holding midfield role. Tom Cleverley and Nathaniel Chalobah have still not recovered.
Roberto Pereyra might feature in the attacking midfield position.
Richarlison is the predicted starter on the left flank and Kiko Femenia on the right.
Attack
Troy Deeney to start in the centre-forward position and Andre Gray on the bench as a backup.
