Relegation battling Watford welcome title chasing Chelsea to Vicarage Road in a huge Premier League clash.
Victory could lift Watford as high as 13th if Southampton, Everton and Aston Villa all lose elsewhere, whereas Chelsea will remain top of the Premier League for an eighth consecutive matchweek with a win.
Team News
Ben Foster is ruled out for Watford after a groin injury forced him to miss Sunday’s defeat at Leicester.
Adam Masina, Juraj Kucka and Emmanuel Dennis (all knock) are doubts whilst Francisco Sierralta (hamstring) won’t be risked unless he is fully match fit.
Peter Etebo (quad), Kwadwo Baah (ankle), Nicolas N’Koulou (hamstring), Ismaila Sarr and Ken Sema (knee) remain absent.
Chelsea could be without Reece James, Jorginho and Timo Werner for this clash due to fitness concerns following a hectic run of fixtures in recent months.
Mateo Kovacic (hamstring), N’Golo Kante and Ben Chilwell (both knee) remain ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Watford have won just one of their last eight meetings against Chelsea (W1, L7).
- Chelsea have won three of their last five visits to Vicarage Road (W3, D1, L1), with their three wins all coming in 2-1 results.
- Both teams have scored seven goals apiece in their last four meetings at Vicarage Road.
- Watford have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 12 matches in all competitions (W3, D1, L8), in which they scored 16 goals and conceded 21 goals.
- All four of Jorginho’s goals for Chelsea this season in all competitions have been scored from the penalty spot.
Prediction
Despite showing excellent attacking quality and team spirit to take the fight to Leicester on Sunday, Watford should be disappointed with their defending because a mixture of terrible marking and slow reactions cost them at least one point in difficult conditions.
Chelsea meanwhile were incredibly wasteful in Sunday’s draw against Man Utd because they were absolutely dominant, yet their finishing was awful on several occasions on top of high defensive line getting punished on the counter but a penalty simply saved them from defeat.
Now if Chelsea repeat their sloppy performance then I can’t see past another Watford win here but I do expect Thomas Tuchel to have his Blues in better shape, with Romelu Lukaku and Mason Mount amongst those set to return to the starting line-up here.
Prediction: Watford 1-2 Chelsea
Result: Watford 1-2 Chelsea