Watford vs Burnley. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats and more

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Watford will host Burnley in the third tour of the EFL Championship at the Vicarage Road. The fixture will take place on August 13, beginning at 00:30 IST.

In the third round of the second strongest English League, perhaps two of the biggest promotion contenders of the season are set to meet. Having fallen from the Premier League, both clubs are aiming to get back as quickly as possible, the quality of their squads is superior to many of their rival clubs, and the coaching positions are yet to have their say. The teams will сompare their strenghts in the upcoming match, but who is going to be one step closer to the top of the table?

Parimatchnews will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.

Watford News & Current Form: 

At the start of the season, it is still difficult to judge a team’s display as well as to access the rationality and success of the transfer campaign. This is especially true for teams such as Watford, who played in the English Premier League last season. After the relegation, many key players left, the coach changed and there is a definite restructuring taking place – this is all mulitplied by some inconsistenty of the management`s decisions. 

At the moment the Hornets look stable, but still a bit raw. The Pozzo family have put their faith in 39-year-old Rob Edwards, who has had a very modest managerial background – an assistant at Wolverhampton and some experience in youth teams. His most serious coaching experience so far is one year at Forest Green Rovers, during that stretch he managed to bring the club up from English League Two to the third-tier League One

The Welshman now has the most expensive Championship squad in his hands and has managed to show satisfactory results so far with a good debut in London against tough Sheffield United – with Joao Pedro scoring the only goal of the game, assisted by Ismaila Sarr. However, against West Bromwich on the road they settled for a 1-1 draw.

But we can say that in both games the team got their luck. It is not quite clear what kind of football The Hornets are trying to play: they have an average defence and allow a lot of shots at their goal, they try to press – but it looks very disorganized, they do a lot of crosses – but cannot convert them into something really dangerous, and the main reliance lies on lightning-fast counterattacks – so far it is the strongest feature of the team. No wonder, as the most valuable players are those in attack. Because of their quality, the tactical deficiencies can be levelled in such the tournaments of this level – however, in the EPL such cases are bound to relegation.

For instance, Ismaila Sarr, the most expensive purchase in the club’s history, hammered a completely beautiful and unexpected screamer from his own half in the latter one. 

That’s how the utility of key individuals looks like – the player directly makes the difference in every game (involved in every goal so far). Perhaps the most important goal of the Yellow and Black’s transfer campaign is to keep their biggest star. Let’s see if the management can deliver.

The most recent transfer has certainly pleased the fans: Watford have signed Leicester midfielder Hamza Choudhury, winner of the FA Cup, on loan with the option to buy.

The 24-year-old Englishman has played for English Premier League main side Leicester City since 2018. In that time, he has featured in 83 matches across all competitions.

Burnley News & Current Form:

Keeping an eye on the Clarets this season is a great idea. Some time ago they even climbed into the Eurocup zone with Sean Dyche. For 9.5 seasons, the Englishman tried to keep Burnley afloat: he managed to lift the project from the Championship twice (and 1 relegation there as well). Most importantly, that despite the frankly frail, limited opportunities this authentic spesialist was managing to stay in the English top flight for 4 seasons… Except last year, that’s where things went way too wrong. World of Football is changing and money is becoming more and more of a decider. Example – Newcastle United, which showed a terrible game and struggled for survival at the beginning of the season, but after the injection of money in the winter – was able to get out to the middle of the table.

Perhaps the management decided to fire a local legend in vain? There are doubts whether Vincent Kompany will be able to rebuild the team and bring it back to the elite. Not everything went well with the Belgian in his native Anderlecht… But the fact that the team definitely needed a reboot and rethinking of processes is obvious. 

Most of core players left, no high profile replacements as of now. Today, the Belgian has a relatively modest squad in his hands, even by the standards of the Championship (€ 55.80m total cost). However, a lot of money is not necessary, the specialist has taken a course on the development of youth, trust in promising talents, he also looks to set up an attacking football, the modern one, with big amount of proactivness, pressing and posession. Don`t forget where he spent the most time of his career – Manchester City.

And so far it works: thanks to the goal by Ian Maatsen the ex-defender enjoyed major-note debut on the Foggy Albion. Thus, the sturdy Huddersfield (the team that reached the Championship Playfoffs Finals last season) on the road, albeit 1-0. But then, with Luton Town at Turf Moor, the Clarets managed to snatch only 1 point, playing 1-1.

But don’t let the scoreline deceive you, there has already been a dramatic change in style. In the two games, the Clarets have been in possession of the ball 70% of the time, showing attacking and dynamic football that is actually entertaining to watch. The statistics here speak volumes: Burnley completed 506 passes in their 1-0 win at Huddersfield, the most on record for the club in a league match. The Terriers’ two shots were the fewest Burnley have faced in a league match since November 2011 versus Ipswich Town in the Championship (also two). And s many as 26 shots have been taken in two matches by them.

Vincent seems to have already found a definite basis for further metamorphosis. The trends are clearly interesting and with some spot improvements of the squad this style could definitely strengthen over the course of the season. Here, in contrast to Watford’s situation, we can already see some kind of proactive and courageous football which brings the potential of a return to the EPL.

Watford form guide: W-D

Burnley form guide: W-D

Watford vs Burnley Head-To-Head Record: 

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Watford last won four years ago, in August 2018. Since then, Burnley have been superior in this rivalry recording 3 wins and 2 draws. Talking about the most recent matches: in the last Premier League campaign the Clarets took 4 points. 

Watford vs Burnley Predicted XI:

Watford possible starting lineup (3-4-3): Daniel Bachmann; Craig Cathcart, Francisco Sierralta, Christian Kabasele; Ken Sema, Hassane Kamara, Edo Kayembe, Tom Cleverley; Joao Pedro, Emmanuel Dennis, Ismaila Sarr.

Burnley possible starting lineup (4-4-2): Arijanet Muric; Connor Roberts, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Charlie Taylor, Ian Maatsen; Josh Brownhill, Jack Cork, Josh Cullen, Samuel Bastien; Dara Costelloe, Ashley Barnes.

What has been said before the match:

Vincent Kompany, the Burnley gaffer:

“If we talk about the teams who came down you have Burnley, Watford and Norwich and if you look at the turnover of all three squads then clearly we are in a much more delicate situation and there is more room for error where we are because of the amount of deals we have to make, we have to have the right profile, we are all knew this. I am new to the Championship and everything that goes with it. So Watford is a team still geared up for the Premier League and try and stay in the Premier League. But it is the type of challenge to have at this stage, I wouldn’t have it differently. I would prefer to go now to Watford. We will have a very good idea of where we are with the squad and then we keep working.”

Rob Edwards, the Watford gaffer:

“When it really counted we showed a lot of desire to keep the ball out of the net, so that element I’m really pleased with. We know we can do better, and I’ll take responsibility for the performances but we will improve. It’s game number two, we’ve come to a difficult place and got a point, but we’re going to grow together with a big game on Friday.“ 

he said ahead of the match at the Vicarage Road.

“We’ll be better with the ball. We’re at home so we want to be more aggressive with and without the ball. Tonight it wasn’t our night and West Brom were top class. I’m sure we’ll be better on Friday and we have to be because Burnley are a really good team. We’re already looking forward to it.”

Watford vs Burnley Prediction:

The teams approach the match in an almost identical situations. At this point, it can be claimed that this will be a battle of completely equal opponents. However, Burnley seem more prepared to play their game, while Watford are more reactive, banking on the individual performance of their frontline players.

The Clarets are seen as favourites for the match with their good-looking football, but the Hornets, relying on counter-attacks are also looking dangerous. In general, this kind of football is typical for Championship, so the Turfites shouldn’t have any difficulty in neutralising this strategy. Whether it can be done with confidence playing away is a big question, but we believe Burnley is at least capable of securing a point if thing go wrong.

Parimatch News staff prediction:

We say: Burnley will not lose – Yes.

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