Watford welcome relegation-battling Everton to Vicarage Road in a rearranged Premier League encounter.
Victory would see already-relegated Watford stay 19th in the table, whereas Everton can stay 16th with a win and move as high as four points clear of the relegation zone.
Team News
Hassane Kamara is suspended for Watford after he was red carded in Saturday’s defeat at Crystal Palace.
Samir (calf), Tom Cleverley (rib), Joao Pedro (groin), Kiko Femenia, Josh King (both illness), Ismaila Sarr and Emmanuel Dennis (both knocks) are doubts.
Juraj Kucka, Imran Louza (both knee), Nicolas Nkoulou (groin) Kwadwo Baah (international duty) and Cucho Hernandez (hamstring) are ruled out.
Everton could be without Vitaliy Mykolenko if he hasn’t recovered from cramp suffered in Sunday’s win at Leicester.
Yerry Mina (calf), Ben Godfrey (thigh), Nathan Patterson (ankle), Donny van de Beek (groin) and Andros Townsend (knee) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Watford have lost just two of their last six league meetings against Everton (W3, D1, L2).
- Everton have won just one of their last five visits to Vicarage Road (W1, D1, L3).
- Everton have scored first in three of their last four meetings against Watford in all competitions, albeit at home at Goodison Park rather than away at Vicarage Road.
- No Watford player has produced more passes in the Premier League this season than Moussa Sissoko, who has created 1,042 passes in 33 appearances.
- No Everton player has been caught offside on more occasions in the Premier League this season than Richarlison, who has been found offside on 18 occasions in 27 appearances.
Prediction
With relegation now confirmed, Watford can afford to play without pressure so I was initially anticipating that they could come out fighting with nothing to lose, especially after how they played defensively well at Crystal Palace but this time with more sharp attacking which was absent on Saturday.
Injuries however have put a dampener on that feeling and if Sarr plus Dennis don’t start, I do fear for their attacking opportunities here given that their current injury crisis seems to be hurting their attack more than defence.
Everton meanwhile seem to be really benefitting from renewed support around the club on and off the pitch, although Sunday’s win at Leicester was quite physically high tempo so I do hope that they can deliver another exciting effort here given that this is surely theirs to lose.
Much of the quality on display though will depend on squad rotations and injury doubts but if Everton can play like they did on Sunday, I can’t see them not winning this game rather comfortably.
Prediction: Watford 0-2 Everton
Result: Watford 0-0 Everton
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