Follow live action as Stoke City on Saturday October at 15:00 BST in a Premier League clash.
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Steve Wilson: “Stoke may have had a slightly sticky start to the season but they have found their rhythm now, as we always suspected they would”. We have been playing well of late and getting good results.
“With Stoke looking so secure at the back, a repeat of the goalless draw on their last visit to the Britannia Stadium eight years ago may be the best Watford can hope for”.
“It’s been great so far, two clean sheets and a few wins”, he told The Sentinel. He is the soul of the team. “It’s a competition we want to do well in”.
“All of the games in the Premier League are hard and it is important that we play well in front of our own supporters”.
Given Chelsea’s defensive deficiencies, the chunky 2/1 (3.0) quote for the home side to score two or more goals may well prove popular, but punters are instead advised to snap up the 10/11 (1.91) quote for this match to produce three or more goals.
Quique Sanchez Flores saw his Watford side compete well for 45 minutes, but Arsenal turned on the style after the break with Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey all on the scoresheet.
Three days later Stoke host a Chelsea side around whom the sense of crisis deepened with Saturday’s 2-1 loss at West Ham, during which Blues boss Jose Mourinho was sent to the stands.
“They are in the middle [of the table] now”, he said.
Walters missed the win at Swansea with a groin injury, while Shawcross is fit after back surgery and Diouf has returned from compassionate leave.
Mark Hughes’ men face Chelsea in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup on Tuesday evening at the Britannia Stadium and Butland is fully focused on the challenge, “If we win tomorrow, then Saturday is all forgotten and we can go to Newcastle in high spirits and look to win away from home and that’s what we’ve got to look to do”.
Watford have scored a league-low six goals this season and have the lowest shot conversion rate (7.8%).
– Jack Butland has made more saves than any other goalkeeper this season in the Premier League (39).
Stoke somehow survived, only for Ighalo and Abdi to combine smartly and set up Deeney, who finally broke his Premier League duck.
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As the game entered the final 10 minutes Stoke’s Adam and Watford’s Etienne Capoue both had efforts at goal, with the Scot blasting well off-target from range before the Frenchman came much closer with a dipping effort over the top.
