Watford hosts West Ham at Vicarage Road on August 24, 2019, in Round 3 of the 2019-20 English Premier League season.
Watford has been in the top four tiers of the English football system for a long time now but the club has yet to win a major football prize. The Hornets hired Javi Garcia on January 2018 and he was rewarded with a contract extension after leading the team to a club-best 11th place during the 2018-19 Premier League season. Watford also recorded the most points in team history during the last term and last April, Garcia steered Watford to only their second FA Cup final appearance after a victory over the Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Here is the player of Watford F.C. as of July 1, 2019:
1 GK Heurelho Gomes, 2 DF Daryl Janmaat, 4 DF Craig Dawson, 5 DF Sebastian Prodi, 6 DF Adrian Mariappa, 7 FW Gerard Deulofeu, 8 MF Tom Cleverley, 9 FW Tom Deeney (captain), 10 FW Isaac Success, 11 Adam Masina, 12 MF Ken Sema, 14 MF Nathaniel Chalobah, 15 DF Craig Craig Cathart, 16 MF Abdoulaye Doucoure, 17 FW Adalberto Penaranda, 18 FW Andre Gray, 19 MF Will Hughes, 20 MF Domingos Quina, 21 DF Kiko Femenia, 22 DF Marvin Zeegelaar, 25 DF Jose Holebas, 26 GK Ben Foster, 27 Christian Kabasele, 29 MF Etienne Capoue, 30 GK Pontus Dahlberg, 33 FW Stefano Okaka, 35 GK Daniel Bachmann, 37 Roberto Pereyra, DF Dimitri Foulquier, MF Tom Dele-Bashiru, MF Dodi Lukebakio, FW Cucho Hernandez, FW Filip Stuparevic
West Ham United has played in the top flight in 61 out of the 93 League seasons. They are one of eight blubs that have never fallen below the second level of the English football system. Manuel Pellegrini took over West Ham during the last term and he had mixed results during his maiden season. The Hammers were pretty much inconsistent throughout the season but they must be feeling good about themselves after a strong finish that saw them finish in the upper half of the English Premier League table at the 10th spot. West Ham beat Watford 4-1 in the final playing day of the previous season.
Here are the West Ham United players as of July 27, 2019:
1 GK Lukasz Fabianski, 2 DF Winston Reid, 3 DF Aaron Cresswell, 4 DF Fabian Balbuena, 5 DF Pablo Zabaleta, 7 FW Andriy Yarmolenko, 8 MF Felipe Anderson, 9 FW Javier Hernandez, 10 MF Manuel Lanzini, 11 MF Robert Snodgrass, 12 FW Jordan Hugill, 13 GK Roberto, 15 MF Carlos Sanchez, 16 MF Mark Noble (captain), 18 MF Pablo Fornals, 19 MF Jack Wilshere, 21 DF Angelo Ogbonna, 22 FW Sebastian Haller, 23 DF Issa Diop, 24 DF Ryan Fredericks, 25 GK David Martin, 26 DF Arthur Masuaku, 30 MF Michail Antonio, 32 FW Xande Silva, 33 MF Josh Cullen, 35 DF Reece Oxford, 37 MF Nathan Holland, 40 FW Oladapo Afolayan, 41 MF Declan Rice, 45 FW Grady Diangana, 50 MF Joe Powell, 53 DF Ben Johnson, 54 MF Conor Coventry
The soccer betting odds for this match aren’t out yet. Watford and West Ham United have played in a total of 20 head to head games. West Ham United has won 9 of those matches while Watford has claimed victory in seven. These teams played to a draw in four meetings.
In their last meeting last May 19, 2019, Captain Mark Noble netted a goal in each half as West Ham defeated Watford 4-1 in the final playing date of the 2018-19 English Premier League season. The win enabled West Ham to increase their total to 52 points and finish in10th place in the final table.
Watford had been overachievers for most of the 2018-19 Premier League season and were favorites to finish in the Top 10 but they slowed down after making the FA Cup Final and were overtaken by West Ham. They still finished in 11th place and notched their highest points tally.
It has been a quiet summer for Watford and their biggest addition to date has been Craig Dawson from West Brom and Brazilian teenager Joao Pedro. Their main goal during the offseason was to keep their stars and key players, which they did. Javi Garcia guided Watford to their best finish since the Premier League was born and he did so despite losing his star player and without spending big money.
Manuel Lanzini, Carlos Sanchez, Andriy Yarmolenko, Jack Wilshere, Winston Reid, and Andy Carroll suffered injuries which required each of them to miss at least one month of action and it was mainly because of these injuries that West Ham was unable to find a rhythm all season long. Still, they managed to finish in the Top 10.
Declan Rice had a breakout year and because the team isn’t 100% healthy yet, he will play an important role not just in this game but in their entire 2019-20 campaign. West Ham looks set for a better campaign with the squad’s health coming back. If only they can keep their boys fit, they could be looking at a Top 6 finish this coming term. As for this match, I think they have more than enough to topple basically the same Watford team they beat 4-1 last May. Prediction: West Ham United
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