Arsenal vs Watford: Match Preview And Prediction

Arsenal vs Watford: Match Preview And Prediction

Arsenal face an incredibly inconsistent Watford side which just lost 1-0 to Millwall in the FA Cup and like many of the lower positioned sides in the Premier League have been unable to back 1 win up with another win more often than not and have failed to deliver results whenever they needed them the most. The Hornets have not done so well under Walter Mazzarri’s management but regardless, Wenger needs to be very careful as the Watford side the Gunners will be facing is more than decent. Zarate, Niang, Cleverly, Capoue, Zuniga, Deeney and Ighalo are not the kind of players you can just forget about even if the team is not doing so well.


Wenger did not comment much on the game but he did point out the following as reported by the BBC: “I believe that number-wise and quality-wise, we have what is required to do well.

“We are not in need of buying. On a general front it has been very quiet [in the transfer window]. That shows that there are not many players available who can strengthen English teams.

“It also shows that all the teams in England, especially the big teams, have big squads. That’s why not a lot happened.”

The idea is that even though Arsenal haven’t brought in anyone of high regard or new this window, they still do have the quality to handle playing every other day or so. This comment also came as a response to the fact that some think the Frenchman will risk not playing his regular players in order to protect them for the Chelsea clash. Even so, the Gunners were amazing against Southampton and if Wenger does decide to use the same team, there is little chance for Watford to get something from this game if the Gunners play that way.

Squad Updates

Arsenal will not be able to use Xhaka and will probably start with Giroud up front despite Welbeck’s amazing form. The Englishman doesn’t seem to be ready for a full 90 minutes though. Elneny, Debuchy and Cazorla are unavailable while Mertesacker is very unlikely to make any appearance until the title race is closer to being settled.

Watford will not be counting on Pantilimon and could also leave out Zarate, Niang and Behrami. Amrabat is also unavailable which is good news for Arsenal.

Head to Head

The Gunners clearly dominate the stats when it comes to Watford games. They won the last 5 confrontations in the Premier League and only slipped up once last year in the FA Cup quarter final.

We predict a 4-1 win for Arsenal on account of their recent high-scoring games and hopefully they can benefit from a win for Liverpool who are facing Chelsea roughly the same time as the Gunners face Watford.