Cardiff City visit Watford in what will be, for many, a throwback to the halcyon days of Peter Whittingham and Jay Bothroyd. Watford are having a good season, and are threatening the top half though are on a bit of a bad run of form at the moment. Cardiff fans will be feeling confident, after three home wins on the spin and a bit of breathing space between us and the bottom three…
Watford vs. Cardiff City
Premier League
Vicarage Road, Watford
Saturday 14th December, 3:00pm (GMT)
Referee: Andy Madley
Starting XI
Three things out to watch out for…
Zohore on the bench. Warnock has seemingly touched on the fitness of Big Ken every week and the news this week is that Ken was back in full training. Paterson is doing brilliantly up front and I don’t want to see him dropped but the fact that Ken is back on the bench gives us another option. And that is much needed. Ken should be chomping at the bit to show the doubters what he can do. And I hope it begins at Vicarage Road.
An unchanged line-up. Can it happen? I don’t see why Neil needs to make any changes from the Southampton game. It’s about time we took the shackles off away from home somewhat and Watford are a prime target for this. We should be going to Vicarage road and trying to play the same game we have been playing at home.
Hoilett for one of the wingers. If Warnock does make a change, I’d expect Hoilett to be the man to come back in. Hoilett offers a bit more defensively and showed against Wolves that he’s good at tracking back. Considering Warnock likes to be a bit defensive away from home, this could be the change he chooses to make.
Watford players to watch out for
The big lad, Troy Deeney. Yeah he’s not scored too many this year but he scares the hell out of me. I’m expecting a bit of a ding-dong battle between him and Bamba. Deeney is just a bully and he will pounce on any weakness shown by our defenders. The first few battles will be integral to how we deal with him.
They’ve got some good creativity within their ranks too – Deloufeu and Pereyra are tidy footballers. They’ve surprised a few people this year with the way they play and we will have to be vigilant against tidy passing as well as the big lad up top.
Best case result
There’s a spring in the step of Cardiff fans at the moment and things are looking cheery going into the festive period. Watford are a good side but they are on a bit of a slide and we should be looking to take advantage of it. With a spring in our step and a bit of a positivity, there’s no reason why we can’t take a the win. 2-0.
Worst case result
Same old story. Watford are in a bit of a slide but we tend to be the team that clubs arrest their slide against. Watford have good players in their ranks and a bully boy up top. Deeney gets the better of our defence, we struggle. 2-0 loss.