Claudio Ranieri will look to begin his Watford reign with a win when he welcomes Liverpool for his side’s eighth game of the Premier League season this weekend.
Venue: Vicarage Road (Watford)
Key Statistics
Watford have won one of their last five PL games.
They have scored seven and conceded ten goals in the league this season.
Also, they have conceded in 17 consecutive PL games since breaking Liverpool’s club-record 44-game unbeaten streak with a 3-0 win back in February 2020.
Liverpool are unbeaten in 17 competitive games in all competitions.
They have scored 17 times in the league this season (the highest in the league) and have conceded six goals.
Liverpool have scored 3+ goals in each of their last six competitive away games.
Mohamed Salah has scored in his last seven consecutive matches for Liverpool in all competitions.
Head to Head
Liverpool have the edge in this tie and have won seven of the last ten Premier League meetings between both sides. Watford have two wins, which includes a 3-0 win the last time both teams met.
Latest Performances
Watford: L-D-L-W-L
Liverpool: D-W-D-W-W
Watford
After letting go of Xisco Munoz following a 1-0 defeat to Leeds United in their last game, Watford will look to begin the Ranieri era with a good result this Saturday.
The Hornets under the Pozzo family have become a club that slays its own manager, with the new appointment their sixth manager in just over two years and their 15th since the owners bought the club in 2012.
But in Ranieri, the club has a trusted hand who has the experience of winning the Premier League. The Italian will be hoping to return Watford to winning ways after they lost four of their opening seven games in the league this season (W2, D1).
The former Leicester City boss will be confident of winning this game as he has an 80% home win rate vs Liverpool–the highest in PL history (minimum five games).
He will look to do so without the services of Oghenekaro Etebo, defender Francisco Sierralta and Christian Kabasele. Josh King will also miss the match after sustaining a knee injury in their loss to Leeds United.
Possible Watford line-ups
Ben Foster; Jeremy Ngakia, William Troost-Ekong, Craig Cathcart, Danny Rose; Juraj Kucka, Moussa Sissoko, Tom Cleverley; Ismaila Sarr, Cucho Hernandez, Emmanuel Dennis.
Liverpool
Liverpool will look to reclaim the top spot this Saturday when they travel to Vicarage Road in the early kickoff game of the weekend.
The Reds played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Manchester City in their last game to retain the second spot in the league standings, one pint behind Chelsea. A win here will see them reclaim the top spot for some time until Chelsea plays Brentford later in the day.
Apart from the incentive of taking the top spot, Jurgen Klopp’s men will have revenge on their minds, as it was the Hornets who ended their 44-game unbeaten record in February 2020.
Meanwhile, the visitors have a good record against new managers as they have beaten the last four managers to face them in their opening game at a new club.
But they will have to win here without Brazilian duo Alisson Becker and Fabinho who cannot take part in the game after returning late from national team duties. Also, Thiago Alcantara and Harvey Elliot will be unable to feature in the game because of injuries.
Possible Liverpool line-ups
Caoimhin Kelleher, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, James Milner, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah.
Prediction
Liverpool have the quality and experience to easily win this game. However, Ranieri has a good home record against the Reds and will be desperate to get his team off a good start.
