2022-23 Sky Bet Championship: Week 12 – Wednesday

Watford welcome Swansea City to Vicarage Road in a stand-out midweek Sky Bet Championship clash.

Victory would see Watford climb to fifth in the table if Burnley lose elsewhere, whereas Swansea can go sixth with a win if Wigan lose elsewhere.

 

Team News

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Joao Pedro is a doubt for Watford as he continues to recover from a calf injury.

William Troost-Ekong, Jeremy Ngakia, Rey Manaj (all hamstring), Tom Dele-Bashiru (knee) and Tom Cleverley (Achilles) remain ruled out.

Swansea could welcome Joe Allen back from a hamstring injury which prevented him from featuring in Saturday’s victory at West Bromwich Albion.

Kyle Naughton (knock) is a doubt whilst Jamie Paterson (groin) and Liam Cullen (shoulder) are set to remain absent.

 

Stat Attack

• Watford have earned just eight points from eight previous Championship meetings against Swansea (W2, D2, L4).
• Swansea have won two of four previous Championship visits to Watford (W2, L2).
• Watford have won each of their last two home matches against Swansea in all competitions, during which they scored twice in both matches.
• Watford have kept just two clean sheets in five matches at home this season (W3, D1, L1), which both came in August in 1-0 victories over Sheffield United and Burnley respectively.
• Four of Swansea’s seven away goals in the Championship this season were scored by Joel Piroe and Oliver Ntcham, who have both scored twice away from the Liberty Stadium.

 

Prediction

Having experienced a first match bounce under Slavan Bilic with a clinical attacking win at Stoke on Sunday, Watford now need to replicate that dominant display in order to demonstrate that they’ve turned a serious corner after an inconsistent start to season.

Swansea meanwhile edged out West Brom in an energetic attacking encounter where they just had the superior clinical edge and more consistent high-tempo, which ultimately proved crucial complete with excellent fighting spirit to recover from 2-1 down.

Now if both teams can bring that high tempo attacking quality into this clash, I can foresee a thriller in terms of end-to-end action but Watford’s home fans should give the Hornets the edge in Bilic’s first home match as manager at Vicarage Road.

Prediction: Watford 2-1 Swansea

Result: Watford 1-2 Swansea