Watford Match Preview
After progressing to the fifth round of the FA Cup where their reward for knocking out National League North side Kidderminster Harriers is a trip to St Mary’s for an all Premier League tie against Southampton, West Ham United are back in action tonight when newly-promoted Watford arrive in East London.
January ended with the Hammers suffering back-to-back defeats and they will be hoping to give their fans something to cheer about here, as they look to finally hit the 40 point mark.
David Moyes’ side can do the double over the Hornets after beating them 4-1 at Vicarage Road back on 28 December.
Since that match however, the visitors have replaced Claudio Ranieri with former Blackburn Rovers, Fulham, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson.
Neither team will have an advantage going into this game, as they were both in action on Saturday with Hodgson’s men playing out a goalless draw against Burnley in a postponed Premier League encounter, while the home side were taken to extra-time by Kidderminster in the FA Cup.
Saïd Benrahma is set to retain his place after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations, while Michail Antonio seems certain to return after being left out of the matchday squad just three days ago, following his involvement with Jamaica.
Manuel Lanzini also missed the weekend’s match with Russell Penn’s men, due to an achilles problem, while Arthur Masuaku suffered a re-occurrence of his knee issue, meaning both may not be able to take part.
It remains to be seen whether Kurt Zouma will be in contention after he went down with an injury during the closing stages of the FA Cup match. If he doesn’t make it however, then either one of Ben Johnson, Ryan Fredericks or Vladimír Coufal will deputise.
One player that will probably return to action is goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański. The Pole has not featured since the 3-2 home defeat by Leeds United back on January 16 after contracting Coronavirus.
Tonight’s match is a 7:45pm kick-off with live coverage being screened by BT Sport from 7:15pm. The referee is Martin Atkinson.