- Chelsea has six away wins in a row, one off its club record
- Watford has never failed to win any of its first 11 league games
- The 12 PL meetings between these 2 clubs have featured 40 goals
Chelsea could equal its club record of seven successive away victories across all competitions as they visit Vicarage Road to take on Watford at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, live on NBCSN or live online at NBCSports.com.
The Blues are in spectacular league form, winning four straight Premier League matches by a combined 11-3 scoreline, including two clean sheets and two four-goal performances. Frank Lampard’s youth revolution necessitated by the transfer ban has been a smashing success, with young players like Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Fikayo Tomori all contributing to the results.
Watford, meanwhile, sits bottom of the league table thanks to the deadly combination of a leaky defense and a toothless attack, unable to put it together on both ends of the pitch at the same time. They have yet to win a Premier League match this season, and one more failure to secure three points would mark the first time in any league campaign that Watford failed to win any of its first 11 matches. The Hornets have improved defensively of late, conceding just one goal in their last three matches, but at the cost of the attacking threat, scoring just once in that span as well.
Injuries/suspensions
Watford: QUESTIONABLE - Isaac Success. OUT - Troy Deeney, Etienne Capoue, Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley.
Chelsea: QUESTIONABLE - None. OUT - N’Golo Kante, Antonio Rudiger (hip).
Projected lineups
Watford: Foster; Holebas, Dawson, Cathcart, Janmaat; Doucoure, Hughes; Deulofeu, Chalobah, Pereyra; Gray.
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga; Alonso, Zouma, Christensen, Azpilicueta; Jorginho, Kovacic; Pulisic, Mount, Willian; Abraham.
What they’re saying
Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores on current form: “It has been a lot of work, trying to get everybody together, to make sure the boys understand our predicament and the difficulties that can affect a team in this kind of situation, and to give them confidence and find solutions to problems.”
Chelsea boss Lampard on Watford’s situation: “I’m very much of the mindset that games become more dangerous with overconfidence. We must understand Watford and their quality. Last season their personnel was similar and they were getting big results, they made the FA Cup final. We cannot underestimate a team that will be hurting because they have not won for a while. They will have every ambition to win this game, so I’m even more focused on what we need to do.”
Prediction
These are two teams at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to form. Chelsea should easily shake off the EFL Cup loss to Manchester United and run this Watford team ragged, with a 4-0 victory sending them back to London flying.