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Football News: Premier League Match Preview Monday 5th February 2018

Premier League Match Preview Monday 5th February 2018
Image from: multispecies-salon.org

Monday 5th February 2018

 


Watford v Chelsea 8pm kick off

 

Wague (hamstring injury) out
Femenia (hamstring injury) doubt
Hughes (hamstring injury expected 24th February) out
Britos (bruised foot expected return 24th February) out
Kaboul (fractured metatarsal) doubt
Chalobah (knee injury expected return 24th February) out
Cathcart (knee injury expected return 10th February) out
Hoban (ACL injury) out
Cleverley (knock) slight doubt
Gomes (back injury) doubt
Ndong (suspended) out

It has been 5 games since Watford won and they are sliding slowly down the table and are now in the bottom half with little sign of things improving. In fact they only have one win in 12 matches now and Javi Gracia has a huge job on his hands putting a stop to the rot that has set in. The constant changes and instability are finally starting to show signs of hampering the team on the pitch, which looks disorganised and disjointed.
Most important player: Abdoulaye Doucoure. He is the driving force in midfield, though he has looked a little jaded in the last few games.

 

Barkley (hamstring injury) out
Christensen (hamstring injury) out
Luiz (ankle injury) slight doubt
Willian (hamstring injury) slight doubt
Morata (back injury) doubt
Emerson (match fitness) doubt

 


Chelsea have an immediate chance to return to 3rd place after the surprise defeat to Bournemouth saw them lose it. That defeat ended a run of 8 games unbeaten as they put real pressure on Man Utd for second place. Usually a defeat just acts as a kick up the backside for the Blues and they go on an unbeaten run, but this time there has been a lot of disquiet leading up to the loss and a run of poor performances. Is this the beginning of the end for Antonio Conte, as every newspaper would love to see judging by their back pages, or is it just a blip?
Most important player: Eden Hazard. If he performs well then Chelsea tend to win.

 

Defining Battle: Watford's task is simple, in theory at least, shut Hazard out of the game. That is the key to beating Chelsea, as they are heavily reliant on Hazard. Overly reliant even. It is just not as easy to stop him as it is to say they need to! Will Gracia be able to organise them to block him out of the game?

 

Editors' Predictions:
Ed002 - 1-4
Ed003 - 0-3
Ed004 - 1-2
Ed007 - 1-3
Ed018 - 1-2
Ed025 - 1-1
Ed033 - 0-2

 


Editor's Predictions Table
1. Ed025 - 160 points
2. Ed002 - 159 points
3. Ed018 - 158 points
4. Ed033 - 150 points
5. Ed004 - 149 points
6. Ed003 - 145 points
7. Ed007 - 142 points

 

*1 point is awarded for the correct result, 3 points for the correct score.
**updated 2nd February 2018 (not including results for that day)

Written by Tris Burke February 05 2018 04:01:16