VENUE: King Power Stadium DATE: Saturday 8 February KICK-OFF: 15:00 GMT COVERAGE: Hornets Player, BBC Three Counties Radio & The Shoutbox Watford face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium for the first time since the play-off semi-final first leg - can anyone remember the score? Both teams met each other in the league in November, with Leicester comfortable winners despite a bizarre goal to open the scoring. Since then, Leicester have been in fine form and recently broke a club record of eight consecutive league wins which was extended to nine last weekend. This has placed them ten points ahead of second placed QPR, with only 17 games to go. Watford go into the game with a renewed sense of believe having beaten Brighton 2-0 on home soil. With some new additions added to the squad also, Watford will be looking to match the current leaders and get something out of the game. [video=youtube;bMhRDYWx-m4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMhRDYWx-m4[/video] TEAM NEWS Almen Abdi and Lewis McGugan are likely to miss out once again for Watford due to foot and thigh injuries. Mathias Ranegie may feature depending on his fitness. Ignasi Miquel could be back in the frame for Leicester after injury but they will be without Liam Moore who was recently ruled out for up to three weeks with a broken rib. POSSIBLE LINE UPS Watford: Almunia Angella Hall Ekstrand Cassetti Murray Tozser Battocchio Anya Forestieri Deeney Leicester City: Schmeichel de Laet Morgan Wasilewski Konchesky Knockaert James Drinkwater Dyer Vardy Nugent WHO TO LOOK OUT FOR Despite a few obvious choices, I've gone for winger Lloyd Dyer. I think with the formation we play, we will always somewhat struggle against pacey direct players rather than more technical players. Hopefully Sannino gets the team selection spot on and we manage to keep him quiet. HOME AND AWAY FORM Leicester last five home league games: D,W,W,W,W Watford last five away league games: D,D,D,D,L EX HORNETS Kevin Phillips Watford 1994-1997 59 Appearances 24 Goals Danny Drinkwater Watford (loan) 2011 12 Appearances 0 Goals (Drinkwater battling for the ball with Majewski of Nottingham Forest in February 2011.) OPPOSITION FORUMS http://www.foxestalk.co.uk/forums/topic/92654-watford-pre-match/ http://talkingballs.co.uk/showthread.php/36910-Leicester-v-Watford http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/248795-Team-V-Watford? PREDICTION A draw would be ideal, however, I can't see anything other than a home win unfortunately. 2-0 Leicester with Phillips to score the second.
Confident we will win. Leicester can't go like this forever. Almunia Angella Hall Ekstrand Cassetti Murray Tozser Merkel Anya Deeney Forestieri Subs: Bond Doyley Faraoni Battocchio Diakite Ranegie Park
I totally agree. The quality of their individuals is hardly scarey. We can turn them over if we play well.
I fully expect us to do well in this game. I just get a vibe that our form is about to change for the better, and Leicester cannot go on winning every week. It will be a tight match, certainly much tighter then he home match. Team Prediction:- ...................Almunia ............Angella - Hall - Ekstrand Cassetti...............................Anya ...................Diakite ..........Tozser - Battocchio ...........Deeney - Forestieri Subs: Bond, Merkel, Pudil, Doyley, Murray, Chu-Young, Faraoni Score Prediction:- 2-1 Watford win.
Almunia Angella Hall Ekstrand Bellerin Murray Tozser Merkel Anya Forestieri Deeney Subs: Bond, Doyley, Pudil, Diakite, Battocchio, Park, Ranegie A solid back line is a must to keep Nugent at bay. Pace on the wings to keep Schlupp from getting forward, Anya did very well against him last season. Can see this being another decent performance for the front 2. If Forestieri goes into this game with the same mindset against Brighton he will have a field day.
Almunia Angella Hall Ekstrand Anya Tozser Merkel Diakite Pudil Deeney Forestieri Tozser and Diakite doing what Luiz and Matic did last night leaving Merkel to get forward and support the front two.
Oh my goodness here we go again, they are 10 points clear and have a vastly superior goal difference to everyone else and you are surprised looking at their squad? wtf! Where of course our superior squad are lying 13th :naughty: Of course Football being what it is there is always a chance we can turn them over but please stop with this nonsense that we are in some way a better team than them, I cant see any other winner of the league right now! (by all means feel free to gloat should I prove wrong and they implode like in previous years but I really cant see it this time) I would obviously like us to win but realistically I think it will be a win for Leicester (3-2), currently the best team in the Championship! :doom:
I said I'm surprised where THEY are? Nothing about where we are, or that we are better than them. I have said multiple times on match threads and shout box that I don't think our players are as good as we expected them to be. So no need to be a patronising *****
Well I'm sorry if you think I'm a patronising **** but I guess I'll live! You said 'Looking at their squad in amazed where they are in the league', so how I'm I supposed to interpret that other than you don't think they should be top which surely is just 'sour grapes'. Why cant people on here take a different view to theirs without getting uppity, eh? Every time LCFC are mentioned on here we get a lot of 'they're not actually that good' posts which imho just makes us look like utter ****s! Accept the fact that Leicester are where they are and lets get over it!
They seem awfully confident. Hopefully it'll be the same thing as us, where when we all expect a win we get comprehensively beaten. Most of their predications have them winning by at least 3 goals.
Those stories you've heard about a magic mythical division where everyone beats everyone and you just can't predict which way things are going to go... they're true! Watford win please. The Leicesters, Burnleys, and QPRs of this world have had their good patches of form, and now it's time for the true greats to step up! Leicester 1 Watford 3
We will be ahead at half time. And if Sannino has learnt his lesson and doesn't try to sit on a lead, at full time too.
Like I said for the Man City game, we're going to get battered and this is a pointless fixture...................
To be fair, there is absolutely nothing wrong with what he said, and I totally agree with him. Forget even looking at individuals, their team is made up of effectively only players who scraped 6th last season, combined with players they actually had to loan out last year as they wern't deemed good enough, this, plus the addition of the incredible squads of Wigan and QPR is fairly sufficient grounding to suggest surprise at where they are in the league. As it happens, I also think most of their individuals aren't particularly great, when both squads are fully fit I would probably only take Schmeichel, Morgan and Nugent from them.
Their fans will be on their backs from the off to properly stuff us after last season but we're a v different side to what they saw then or even in November. If we can soak up the first 15 mins or so, and with our strengthened midfield I think we will, I can see us steal a few on the break. 2-0 to us and more tears from knockert as their promotion hopes are dashed by the Orns .... again.
I think Leicester have done terrific this season. To recover so fast from the disappointment of the play offs like they did and to have the sort of season they're having...come on, let's be honest, we are all pig jealous..they've grown from their disappointments of last season whereas we've gone the other way. To me they're the opposite of us, in the sense that the sum of their parts is greater than the individual parts. Like them or loathe them, we have to look at them and learn lessons from how they are doing things. Ditto Cardiff and Hull last season. That said, they can't go on winning every match..by the law of averages they have to drop points soon..we won there last season, let's give them a good match on Saturday and I think we have a good chance..
I don't think our squad is superior to Leicester's but it is certainly stronger. If Leicester got a few injuries their squad would struggle to cover that up to a level that they are currently at. Ours on the other hand, we'd have a chance now. Just because they are 10 points clear doesn't mean they have the best squad, it means they have had the best results and played well and with the weakness in areas of their squad, it is surprising.
It was only a matter of time before things at Leicester clicked after years of trying. We only got taken over last season. It will come.
Fair play, I really don't mean to be patronising but it comes naturally I guess :]] of course everyone is entitled to their opinion but my point is that very few Watford fans seem to be able to accept that they are where they are. Lets face it they are not top by one point and as a result of some dodgy refereeing decisions are they? So the fact that on paper they don't look that good (not my view) is neither here nor there in my opinion! Were QPR the best team in the league when they won it? Were Cardiff the best team in the league last year, probably not but as they won it it is not relevant is it?
Good afternoon, 'Ornets. Nice round-up DrewH In terms of the quality of our squad debate, I find it difficult to put my finger on where it's all gone so right this season. Individually, Vardy, Drinkwater and James have been very impressive this season and have imposed themselves on every opposite number they've come up against, but as a whole its very hardworking group that's comfortable with and without the ball. Potential weak links? Knockaert can be very clumsy when tracking back. Wasilewski is like a mahogany wardrobe at the back; classy, solid, beautiful, but slightly immobile. Despite having played over a hundred games for us, Paul Koncheskey remains an enigmatic figure at left back. I still don't know whether he's a liability, but he does get good protection from the hardworking Dyer. Konch is generally nowhere to be seen if we're countered against. I have a slight fear of Watford. I see you as an evil man that's beaten a dog, and I, as the dog, don't know whether to bite or cower. Don't know whether to feel confident or nervy. The misery of that semi far outweighs the pleasantness of that 0-3 earlier this season. This is a huge game for us, especially going into an away tie at Forest after this. If we win, I'll genuinely start to believe in our ability to return to the Premier League. Lose, it'll be very disappointing and the magnificent run will be over, but a nice points buffer will still exist. This is my first game of 2014, having had a 100% home record in 2013 (I think). Enjoy you're day in Leicester whatever your plan is. As I've said elsewhere, I can't really suggest places for away fans to drink etc because I don't live in the city. I'm sure you'll all know what you're doing anyway!
Apart from a few of the more sensible people on their forum there still seems to be some of their fans who really hate us and a lot of them seem to think this will be a walkover. I really don't get the hate thing from either side. I couldn't care less about Leicester or any other team in the league apart from when we play them. They're doing incredibly well and I'm actually pleased for their manager who generally comes across very well and I would certainly rather they went up than QPR. As for them giving us a thrashing, it could happen, I don't think it will, as apart from 30 minutes at Forest we've been decent at the back for a while now. It will certainly be a tough game but this league is so difficult to predict and despite their current position I don't see them as far and away the best team in the league.
According to Foxes Talk you are a Watford troll anyway! :]] They say you couldnt possibly be a real Lestur fan! :]]
They are a very good championship team bang on form. We are the more technical team who on our day can embarrass any team in the land. But we're out of form, out of confidence, and frail. I'll be very surprised if we get any sort of result.
How many peanlties have contributed to their rise up the league though? They are the new Palace. No rash challenges in the box and we'll be fine.
In the past we have had a good habit of getting results in unlikely circumstances against runaway league leaders - remember Norwich being one.. On the other hand they might go back to scoring 2-4 goals against us as they always seemed to do for a while at the Walkers/King Power. My fear is seeing Kevin Phillips on the pitch - no matter how we play he's bound to score.
