Watford begin life under Claudio Ranieri as the Hornets welcome Liverpool to Vicarage Road.
Victory will put Watford up to 11th for at least a few hours, whereas Liverpool can go top with a win until Saturday evening.
Team News
Christian Kabasele is ruled out for Watford with a hamstring injury suffered in their defeat at Leeds a fortnight ago.
Josh King (knee) is a doubt but Nicolas N’Koulou (fitness), Francisco Sierralta (hamstring) and Peter Etebo (quad) are ruled out.
Liverpool could be without Diogo Jota after he suffered a muscle injury on international duty for Portugal.
Thiago Alcantara (calf), Trent Alexander-Arnold (adductor) and Divock Origi (illness) are expected to return but Harvey Elliott (ankle) is ruled out.
Alisson and Fabinho meanwhile are doubts after returning late from international duty for Brazil.
Stat Attack
- Watford have claimed just four points from their last nine league meetings against Liverpool (W1, D1, L7).
- Liverpool have lost just two of their seven previous Premier League visits to Vicarage Road (W4, D1, L2), with both defeats coming by 3-0 results.
- The winning team in each of last five meetings in this fixture have kept a clean sheet in each clash, with Liverpool winning four games to Watford’s one win which came in their last meeting in February 2020.
- Four of Watford’s six through balls in the Premier League this season have been created by Danny Rose.
- Liverpool have produced more shots and attempts on target than any other Premier League team this season, having placed 53 of their 147 shots onto target in seven matches.
Prediction
Having undergone a change of manager early on during this international break, Watford definitely should be up for this game if can improve their attacking quality after wasting numerous chances at Leeds a fortnight ago as well as their defence which was frankly woeful to put it mildly.
Liverpool meanwhile cannot afford to repeat their sloppy first half display as saw against Manchester City last time out, yet they did find considerable improvement in the second half especially in midfield which proved key to their two goals in an entertaining draw.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds though do come into this game as favourites even despite Ranieri’s appointment as Watford manager, yet this is a game where they could easily slip up like they did in their last visit in February 2020 so I do expect a tough test but Liverpool should scrape a win.
Prediction: Watford 1-2 Liverpool
Result: Watford 0-5 Liverpool