Watford vs Arsenal Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

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Haydn Cunningham Oct 12, 2015 @ 08:36 am

This London derby hasn’t taken place since 2005/2006 Premier League season where Arsenal did the double over Watford where 2-1 and 3-0 victories included goals from Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin Van Persie! Only two of the second half substitutes are still represented by either club as Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky remain the only survivors.

It is Theo Walcott who is catching the eye most for Arsene Wenger’s side as despite not scoring in their stunning 3-0 win over Manchester United; he played an instrumental part setting up the 2^nd and 3^rdgoals. He has been very vocal over the years in his ambition to lead the line for Arsenal but Wenger has understandably been reluctant given his stature but his pace and movement has given them a new dimension compared to Olivier Giroud who is more of a robust centre forward. Walcott’s pace and ability to link up with the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez proves too much for opposing defenders and their speed causes all sorts of problems as Louis Van Gaal’s United found out.

Watford made wholesale changes in the summer with a number of faces being brought into the club scattered across Europe. They boast the surprising statistic of having the joint sternest defence in the league having shipped just 7 Premier league goals but on the other hand, they’re also joint bottom of the goals scored charts with just 6. Quique Sanchez Flores finds himself sitting in 12^th place which is respectable given the new manager and players that came in during a very hectic summer.

Arsenal will be looking to use the Manchester United result as a starting block to go on a good run through till Christmas as they’ve suffered in periods this season, most notably in the Champions League where defeats to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos has left their qualification hopes to the knockout stages hanging by a thread with a Bayern Munich double header approaching.

Arsenal have won the last 4 meetings between the 2 London sides and they’ve fared better away than at home this season with 9 points from a possible 12 on their travels compared to 7 points from 12 at the Emirates. Wenger will have identified that of Watford’s 6 Premier League goals, Odion Ighalo has scored 5 of them and if Arsenal’s defence can keep the Nigerian forward quiet then they stand a very good chance of taking all 3 points.

Tomas Rosicky picked up a knee injury on international duty with Czech Republic and will join Danny Welbeck on the side lines until the New Year. Midfield is a cause for concern for Wenger which is fortunate he has a number to choose from in this position. Jack Wilshere’s injury troubles continue to haunt him and there are also doubts over Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta. Laurent Koscielny has been a big miss for Arsenal and the Watford game could prove a week too soon. Lloyd Doyley, Joel Ekstrand, Ikechi Anya are definite absentee’s for Watford through injury but Valon Behrami and Allan Nyom should return after having the international break to recover from their respective injuries.

Watford 

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-4

Recent Form - LWWLD

Arsenal

Stats: W-5 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - LWWLW

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Watford (4-4-2) – Gomes, Nyom, Prodl, Cathcart, Ake, Paredes, Capoue, Watson, Abdi, Deeney, Ighalo.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) – Cech, Bellerin, Gabriel, Mertesacker, Monreal, Coquelin, Santi Cazorla, Ozil, Sanchez, Ramsey, Walcott.

Injury List/Suspended Players

Watford - Ekstrand (inj), Doyley (inj), Anya (inj), Jurado (inj).
Arsenal - Koscielny (inj), Rosicky (inj), Welbeck (inj), Wilshere (inj)

League Positions