Watford vs. Wolves
Venue: Vicarage Road
Kick off: 3PM
Both Watford and Wolverhampton Wanderers will be looking to recover from defeats when they resume their respective Premier League campaigns with a clash at Vicarage Road this afternoon.
Watford suffered a 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur before the international break, while Wolves, who are yet to get off the mark this term, were beaten 1-0 by Manchester United at Molineux.
Watford started their 2021-22 Premier League season in perfect fashion, recording a 3-2 win over Aston Villa, but they were then beaten 2-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion in their first away match of the campaign.
The Hornets managed to progress in the EFL Cup with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on August 24, but they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham before the international break, and a total of three points from three matches has left them in 12th position in the table entering this weekend’s fixtures.
Watford will know that their home form is likely to be crucial if they are to remain in the top flight this term, and the recent successes over Villa and Palace will have encouraged the supporters.
The promoted club certainly have some winnable matches to come considering that their next two in the Premier League are against Norwich City and Newcastle United, and they will surely have to beat the teams around them in order to avoid relegation back to the Championship for next term.
Watford were 2-1 winners when they last welcomed Wolves to Vicarage Road in January 2020, while they have only lost two of their last six meetings against their opponents this afternoon.
Wolves, meanwhile, have given a strong account of themselves in each of their three Premier League matches this season against Leicester City, Tottenham and Manchester United, but all three matches have ended in a 1-0 defeats, meaning that Bruno Lage is still waiting for his first point as head coach.
The former Championship winners were particularly impressive against Man United before the international break but missed a host of chances before conceding late on, with Mason Greenwood scoring the winner for the 20-time English champions, who were second best for long spells.
Wolves must find a way to translate their attacking football into goals, and it will surely only be a matter of time before they hit the goal trail considering the quality that is present in the forward areas.
Lage’s team did beat Nottingham Forest 4-0 in the EFL Cup on August 24, and they will take on Tottenham in the next round of the competition on September 22 but must first focus on successive Premier League matches against Watford and Brentford.
Wolves found it difficult on their travels last season, winning just five of their 19 matches, and they will certainly need to improve in that area in order to push higher up the division this term.
Watford possible XI: Bachmann, Cathcart, Troost-Ekong, Kabasele, Masina, Etebo, Sarr, Kucka, Sissoko, Dennis, King.
Wolves possible XI: Sa, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Marcal, Trincao, Jimenez, Traore.