Watford v Manchester City - The Opposition

Manchester City travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford in their Saturday evening Premier League clash. The blues held on for a 2-1 at Aston Villa on Wednesday night, while Watford suffered an unlucky 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea.

The home side will now have to try and pick themselves up against the reigning Premier League champions, who have won their last six in all competitions.

Form

Watford go into the game on an erratic run of form. Prior to their midweek defeat to Chelsea, the Hornets lost 4-2 at Leicester, but thrashed Manchester United 4-1 at Vicarage Road. A 1-0 defeat at Arsenal preceded that win and lost 1-0 at home to Southampton.

But two matches against the Merseyside teams show just how unpredictable their form can be. On 16^th October, Watford were hammered 5-0 at home to Liverpool, then made the trip to Goodison Park where they won 5-2.

They raised their game against United and Chelsea, but can they do it for a third successive home game? They have some tough fixtures coming up after this match and their record against City is not the greatest.

But they are unpredictable at the moment and City cannot afford to take the match for granted.

Danger Men

Watford have scored 19 goals so far this season, the highest of the bottom teams, with Nigerian striker Emmanuel Dennis helping himself to 6 from 15 matches. His goal conversion rate s an impressive 32% with a shot accuracy rating of 68%.

Joshua King has bagged 5 from 13 matches, with Ismaila Sarr also hitting 5 Premier League goals so far this season. City will need to watch these three is they are to come away from Vicarage Road with three points.

As well as goals, Dennis has provided 5 assists and created 13 chanced from his 15 matches. He has attempted 237 passes, 158 of which have been completed, giving him a pass accuracy of 67%.

King is second on the assist chart with 2 but has created the most chances with 15. Midfielder Moussa Sissoko has attempted the most passes with 425, 333 of those being completed. He has created 12 chances in 13 matches, claiming 1 assist and has a pass accuracy of 78%.

Who’s the Boss?

Claudio Ranieri is the current manager at Watford, having taken charge in October. He has only presided over 7 matches, 2 of which have been won and 5 lost, giving him a win ratio of 29%.

However, Manchester City do not have fond memories of Ranieri, who was in charge of Leicester when they beat the blues 3-1 in 2016 on their way to the Premier League title. Ranieri’s Foxes also thrashed Pep Guardiola’s men 4-2 the following season.

Last Time Out

It wasn’t a happy match for the Hornets to endure as City ran out 4-0 winners at Vicarage Road in July 2020. Twp goals from Raheem Sterling put City 2-0 ahead at half-time, and further goals from Phil Foden and Aymeric Laporte secured a 4-0 win for the blues.