The rearranged fixture comes at a time when former Palace boss Roy Hodgson is in charge at a club who have had more than their fair share of managers over the last few seasons.
DATE
23rd February 2022
KICK OFF
7.30pm
VENUE
Vicarage Road, Watford WD18 0ER
LAST TIME
The Eagles last made the trip to Hertfordshire in August for a League Cup tie when a late goal from Ashley Fletcher ensure an early exit from the competition for Palace despite having more possession and shots.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Ben Foster (7.7)
OFFICIALS
Referee: Andre Marriner. Assistants: Scott Ledger, Derek Eaton. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: Mike Dean. Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes.
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Vicente Guaita (knee) is a doubt after being replaced at half time at the weekend but Conor Gallagher returns after missing out against his parent club. Nathan Ferguson (thigh) is not expected to feature
WATFORD – Nicolas Nkoulou (thigh) misses out while Juraj Kucka, Joao Pedro, Samir Santos and Peter Etebo are all doubts
DISCIPLINARY
RED CARDS – Wilfried Zaha (1), Emmanuel Dennis (1), Juraj Kucka (1)
YELLOW CARDS (5+) – Emmanuel Dennis (7), Joel Ward (6), Conor Gallagher (6)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 24/08/21 Watford 1-0 Palace
- 07/08/21 Palace 3-1 Watford
- 07/03/20 Palace 1-0 Watford
- 07/12/19 Watford 0-0 Palace
- 16/03/19 Watford 2-1 Palace
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 19/02/22 Palace 0-1 Chelsea
- 12/02/22 Brentford 0-0 Palace
- 09/02/22 Norwich 1-1 Palace
- 05/02/22 Palace 2-0 Hartlepool
- 23/01/22 Palace 1-3 Liverpool
Last FIVE results for Watford;
- 19/02/22 Aston Villa 0-1 Watford
- 12/02/22 Watford 0-2 Brighton
- 08/02/22 West Ham 1-0 Watford
- 05/02/22 Burnley 0-0 Watford
- 21/01/22 Watford 0-3 Norwich
RECORD AGAINST WATFORD
- Played 123
- Won 50
- Drawn 28
- Lost 45
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Conor Gallagher 7.31
- Emmanuel Dennis 7.00
- Joshua Kind 6.94
- James McArthur 6.87
ONE TO WATCH
EMMANUEL DENNIS
FORMER CLUBS – Accademia di Abuja, Zorya Luhansk, Club Brugge, FC Koln (loan)
The Nigerian international has proved his worth to the side from Vicarage Road very quickly after finding his feet almost immediately following his move from Club Brugge this summer. The 24 year old looks a natural goal scorer early signs are that he will be sought after across Europe this once the season is over. He needs just one more goal to become only the fourth Watford player to score 10 goals or more in a Premier League season.
KEY CLASH
TYRICK MITCHELL v ISMAILA SARR
The young Palace left back will know he could have done better to prevent the winner for Chelsea at the weekend after a very good defensive performance. More of the same will be needed as he will likely be up against AFCON winner Sarr who has the pace and trickery to unlock any defence on his day
PRE-MATCH FACTS
- Palace won the most recent league meeting 1-0 at home on 7 March 2020 to end a 6-match run without victory against Watford in all competitions. Roy Hodgson was the Palace manager at the time
- Watford defeated the Eagles 1-0 at Vicarage Road in the League Cup second round back in August
- Watford registered their first win in 12 league matches, and first goal in 5, away to Villa on Saturday. However, they are on a club top-flight record run of 6 consecutive home defeats
- They have only had one longer losing league streak at home, a run of 9 from December 1971 to March 1972 in the second tier
- The Hornets have equalled the Premier League record of 17 games without a home clean sheet
- Roy Hodgson became Palace manager in September 2017 and guided them to finishes of 11th, 12th, 14th and 14th
- Palace have managed just 2 league victories in their past 14 attempts and are winless in 6
- They and Leicester are the only 2 teams yet to win a Premier League fixture in 2022. Palace have drawn 3 and lost 3
- Their solitary victory in 12 Premier League away games this season was by 2-0 at Manchester City in October
- Cheikhou Kouyate is one short of 250 Premier League appearances
- Will Hughes joined Palace last August from Watford, where he scored 7 goals in 107 league appearances
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Conor Gallagher (7 – 16th in PL)
- ASSISTS – Michael Olise (4 – 17th in PL)
- PASSES – Marc Guehi (1566 – 8th in PL)
- TACKLES – Tyrick Mitchell (77 – 2nd in PL)
- TOUCHES – Marc Guehi (1819 – 8th in PL)
- SHOTS – Christian Benteke (39)
- SAVES – Guaita (59 – 13th in PL)
DID YOU KNOW?
Watford’s nickname ‘The Hornets’ was chosen by the club’s supporters because they play in yellow and black. There used to be a hornet on the club badge but it was replaced by a stag
PREDICTION
This will be a key game for the hosts as they will have targeted this fixture as one to get something out of as their plot their climb up the table. Roy Hodgson and Ray Lewington know many of the Palace players from their recent time at the club and Patrick Vieira will need to find a way of combating that with the players they do not know so much about. The fact is, all three points will be more important for Watford than they are for the Eagles
FINAL SCORE: 1-1
BETTING ODDS
- Home – 21/10
- Draw – 21/10
- Away – 13/10
- Both teams to score – 9/10
RESOURCES
