Stoke City vs Watford Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 14, 2015 @ 01:55 pm

Stoke City have started to turn up the gas after 4 wins on the bounce has seem them climb up the table to 10^th after a hesitant start. Watford meanwhile have picked up 1 point from 3 games and are slowly slipping down the table as the odds on them surviving relegation start to tumble.

Mark Hughes will be delighted at how his side have battled back from a disappointing start and much was made about the summer and the high profile players they brought into the club. A few years ago for Stoke to lure the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri and Glen Johnson was unthinkable but that is now a reality for the supporters. 4 victories in a row all by the 1 goal margin will have the supporters dreaming of a return to the Europa League. 3 successive away clean sheets without skipper Ryan Shawcross is also another testament to Hughes and his men how they’ve progressed over the past year and are gradually starting to shake off their ‘direct’ style of play which was maintained in the Tony Pulis era.

Watford went 9 games unbeaten away from home in the final run in of the Championship which contributed massively to finishing runners up last season. A creditable away draw to Everton on the opening day of the season saw them carry on where they left off and also managed a win at St.James Park. Vicarage Road isn’t a venue you’ll want to be visiting if you’re looking for entertainment however with the home fans celebrating just 1 goal in the Premier League. They had only conceded 1 to match until the Arsenal fixture but they were well and truly outplayed by the Gunners in their last match. 6 of their next 7 opponents are sides that they should be looking to take points off with Stoke City, West Ham, Leicester City, Aston Villa, Norwich City and Sunderland all to come before the hectic Christmas schedule. It is a Christmas schedule which pairs them with Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City in the space of 13 days which is a daunting prospect.

It is the first meeting in 7 years between these 2 clubs and the first in the Premier League for 20 years. Goals are usually rare with just 6 goals in the last 6 fixtures. Watford are unbeaten against Stoke in the last 5 and have also kept a clean sheet in each game. Under Mark Hughes, Stoke have won exactly 50% (21/42) of home Premier League matches.

Shawcross is still being nurtured back to full fitness and a return to the first team is imminent. Mame Diouf has been grieving the death of his mother and is returning from Senegal this week. Hughes is also confident that Jon Walters will recover from a groin injury in time for the weekend. Joel Ekstrand and Lloyd Doyley are unlikely to feature again this year for Watford. Jurado Marin is battling his way back from a hamstring injury but the trip to the Britannia looks to be a week too soon for the Spaniard.

Stoke City

Stats: W-3 L-3 D-3

Recent Form - DWWWW

Watford

Stats: W-2 L-3 D-4

Recent Form - WWLDL

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Stoke City(4-4-1-1) – Butland, Johnson, Wollscheid, Cameron, Pieters, Whelan, Adam, Arnautovic, Shaqiri, Bojan, Joselu.

Watford (4-4-2) – Gomes, Nyom, Prodl, Cathcart, Ake, Anya, Capoue, Behrami, Ibarbo, Ighalo, Deeney.

Injury List/Suspended Players

Stoke City – Shawcross (inj), Given (inj)

Watford – Jurado (inj), Doyley (inj), Ekstrand (inj)

League Positions