Both Aston Villa and Watford will be looking to bounce back to winning ways when they lock horns at Villa Park in an important Premier League encounter on Saturday evening with kickoff at 18:00.
Steven Gerrard made a terrific start to his reign as Aston Villa manager, winning four his opening six matches, however Villa have recently endured difficult spell having only claimed one win from their last seven matches across all competitions picking up two draws while suffering four defeats in the process.
Their inconsistency continued last weekend as they fell to 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United with Kieran Tripper’s fricking condemning them to their 12 defeat of the season.
As a result Villa have slipped down to the 12th spot in the standings with two points outside the top half and 10 points above the relegation zone. Another slip-up for the hosts could see slide further down the table, with Brentford sitting just three points and two places behind them.
Therefore, Villa will be looking return to winning ways as they aim at staying close to the top-half and they will be confident of claiming all three points in the Saturday’s clash as they have a good home record against Watford who have only won once in their last eight visits to Villa Park.
Meanwhile the appointment of Roy Hodgson is yet to turn Watford’s fortunes around with the experience manager going winless in his first three matches, claiming a 0-0 draw against Burnley while suffering back-to-back defeats to West Ham (1-0) and Brighton (0-2) in the process.
The problem seems to be at the attacking end on the pitch with the side failing to score in their last four matches with three coming under Hodgson. Hodgson’s run has extended Watford’s disappointing form as the club has now failed to win in any of their last 12 matches across all competitions, with their last win coming in November against Man United.
As result Watford have slipped all the way into the relegation zone where they sit in 19th on 15 points, one point above Burnley in the last spot but the Clarinets have played two matches less. The Hornets now sit six points adrift of safety and they seem to be on their way for an immediate return to the Championship.
Aston Villa vs Watford head to head
Both sides have met in 10 encounters since 1999 with both claiming four victories and there have been two draws.
- Watford 3-2 Aston Villa 14/08/21
- Aston Villa 2-1 Watford 21/01/20
- Watford 3-0 Aston Villa 28/12/19
- Aston Villa 0-0 Watford 29/07/17
- Watford 3-2 Aston Villa 30/04/16
Home
- Newcastle 1-0 Aston Villa
- Aston Villa 3-3 Leeds
- Everton 0-1 Aston Villa
- Aston Villa 2-2 Man United
- Man United 1-0 Aston Villa
Away
- Watford 0-2 Brighton
- West Ham 1-0 Watford
- Burnley 0-0 Watford
- Watford 0-3 Norwich
- Newcastle 1-1 Watford
Aston Villa team news
Aston Villa will be without Bertrand Traore and Marvelous Nakamba due to injuries while Ezri Konsa will miss due to suspension.
Watford team news
Watford will be without Peter Etebo, Nicolas Nkoulou, Rob Elliot and Kwadwo Baah due to injury.
Prediction and odds
- Aston Villa win
- Both sides score
- Goals over 2.5
