Liverpool vs Watford | Opposition Preview

Liverpool vs Watford – Opposition Preview

By Daniel Ghorbal

Now the final international break of the season is over, attention swiftly turns to club football and arguably one of the busiest and most pivotal months in Liverpool history. An intense month of fixtures begins with the visit at Watford this weekend, and the first opportunity for the reds to  reach the summit of the league since before Christmas, albeit for a short period of time before challengers Manchester City travel to Burnley. The relegation threatened Hornets are now onto their third manager of the season, and a familiar face as Roy Hodgson returns to Anfield. Despite his dreadful tenure in charge of the club, his record elsewhere at keeping teams up remains exceptional and although Watford have been dismal at stages, they sit just three points off safety with some very favourable looking fixtures remaining.

Prior to Hodgson’s arrival, Watford always looked like a threatening side with goals aplenty, but keeping them out was the source of their downfall and they’d often find themselves upwards of two goals a game. Since Roy has taken over they have stopped conceding as many but by tightening up things the attacking output has diminished considerably. Despite this, a couple of impressive away wins at Aston Villa and Southampton have given them more than a fighting chance, and with the personnel at their disposal, they have the individual attacking quality in forward areas to give most teams problems. Although it should be a routine home victory for Liverpool, there are certainly goals in Sarr, Dennis, Pedro and Cucho Hernandez, with pace and guile to expose a potentially weakened Liverpool defence with the availability of Trent Alexander-Arnold yet to be discovered. It is worth remembering that it was indeed Watford who broke Liverpool’s unbeaten run in the 19/20 season, and Ismaila Sarr was at the centre of things that day. Complacency will never be a trait that a Jurgen Klopp team shows, but making sure that they don’t sit too comfortably will be vital for how Saturday’s game plans out. The Brighton game in October was a perfect example of why you simply cannot afford to take the foot off the gas in a game at this level. At 2-0 up, Liverpool were cruising but conceded one and suddenly got pushed back and eventually punished, Watford may not have the collective quality that Brighton do but a Hodgson side will certainly never give up.

A concern for the Hornets heading into this one is the factor of Liverpool having an extended break off with many players fit and firing ahead of an action-packed end to the season. Although they undoubtedly had more players away for International Duty, the likes of Salah and Diaz will be raring to go after suffering World Cup Qualifying heartbreak. Salah especially has an exceptional record against Watford, as do the reds in recent history at Anfield. An early goal could really open the flood-gates for the reds, as Watford have demonstrated they do not typically respond well to going behind. If they do manage to score the first goal, then Hodgson will feel like this is the perfect opportunity to deploy a trademark backs against the wall display. Craig Cathcart, Moussa Sissoko and Josh King amongst others have bags of experience and although lots of new signings make up the shape of the team, stranger things have happened than clubs in this position grinding out results. The early kick off time certainly helps in that if things go against Liverpool the crowd could be nervy, but the reality is that Anfield will still be bouncing as the finish line becomes visible. Just 9 games remain and the pressure is really on ahead of next weeks crunch fixture against Manchester City. Winning this means City really need to get maximum points at Turf Moor and psychologically, playing after Liverpool may add to the pressure. Now it suddenly begins to feel real.

Predicted Watford team: Foster, Femenia, Cathcart, Samir, Kamara, Sissoko, Kucka, Louza, Sarr, Dennis, Hernandez