After both sides had losses midweek, Tottenham and Watford meet at Vicarage Road as they both look to rebound from their disappointment.
Watford fell 4-2 to Manchester United in the first midweek Premier League match of the season. The Hornets went 3-0 down to three goals from outside of the box. They brought the game back to 3-2 through a Troy Deeney penalty and a goal from Abdoulaye Doucoure, but they quickly conceded a fourth to Jesse Lingard to go 4-2 down. Manager Marco Silva will be pleased with the comeback and not expect to concede three goals from outside the box again, though he will likely be disappointed with how easily they conceded the fourth goal. The Hornets will hope they are not done in by more outside the box shots against Tottenham like they were against United.
Tottenham were also undone by low percentage shots midweek. Both Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez scored wonder-goals to give the Foxes a 2-0 lead at half time. While Spurs created a bunch of good chances, their finishing let them down and they ended up losing 2-1. They will also hope the finishing returns to normal, or else they could e in trouble against a dangerous Watford side.
Team News
Watford have been bombarded with injuries and will be missing a lot of players against Spurs. Will Hughes, Isaac Success, Nathaniel Chalobah, Younes Kaboul, Craig Cathcart, and Tommie Hoban will be out, while Kiko Femenia and Miguel Britos are major doubts, according to Physioroom.com.
Spurs don’t have the same number of injury issues as their opponents, but they have two major injury issues. Both Victor Wanyama and Toby Alderweireld are out for at least another month. Along with those two, Harry Winks is a doubt with an illness, according to Physioroom.com.
Key Players
Watford: Richarlison
After a strong start, Watford have fallen off a bit with only two wins in their last six matches. That said, they still possess some dangerous players, specifically their 20 year-old Brazilian star, Richarlison. His five goals are only the 13th most in the league, among players with at least 700 minutes played, he is fifth in the league in total shots per 90 minutes with 3.7 and sixth in the league in shots inside the penalty area with 2.9 per 90 minutes, according to Whoscored.com. Richarlison has shown signs that he could be a potential star and Watford will try to use his ability to their advantage while he is at the club.
Tottenham: Christian Eriksen
When the Leicester match was at 2-0, Eriksen missed a huge chance that could have made the match 2-1 before Harry Kane scored. He will be looking to make up for that against Watford. Kane is Spurs main goalscorer, but Eriksen is the main creator. The Dane has registered 2.4 key passes per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season, even though he has only registered two assists. He created a fantastic chance for Dele Alli when the game was still 1-0 against Leicester, but it wasn’t converted. He will hope to create one or two similar chances against Watford on Saturday.
Prediction
While Silva historically has a great record at home, the Hornets have struggled at Vicarage Road a bit this season with only two wins in seven league matches. Spurs started the season with four consecutive away wins, but have lost their last three, though two of those were against Manchester united and Arsenal. This will likely be a tight affair, but Spurs will eek it out in the end and avoid losing three out of four matches.
Prediction: 2-1 Tottenham
