Watford vs. Arsenal: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info

With the international break now over, Watford and Arsenal return to Premier League action this weekend at Vicarage Road.

The Gunners will have been disappointed by the timing of the last international break. In their previous league game, they dispatched Manchester United, 3-0, at the Emirates Stadium. The challenge now is for Arsenal to see if they can continue that momentum despite the two-week lay-off.

This is a derby of sorts. Although they are based in north London, Arsenal’s training ground is actually out in Hertfordshire, not far from Watford’s Vicarage Road ground. This is a familiar part of the world for Arsene Wenger’s men, if not a particularly familiar stadium.

Arsenal are the biggest team to have visited Watford thus far in 2015/16, so one can expect a raucous reception from the home crowd. This game should prove a fascinating test of how far Watford have come—if they can live with the Gunners, it will be give their hopes of Premier League survival an enormous boost.

 

Date: Saturday, October 17 

Time: 5:30 p.m. BST/12.30 p.m. ET  

Location: Emirates Stadium, London

Television coverage: Sky Sports 1/Sky Sports 1 HD (U.K. only); NBC, NBC Universo (U.S. only) 

Streaming: Sky Go (U.K. only)

 

Form

Watford

L (2-0) vs. Manchester City 

W (1-0) vs. Swansea

W (1-2) vs. Newcastle 

L (0-1) vs. Crystal Palace

D (1-1) vs. Bournemouth

 

Arsenal  

L (2-0) vs. Chelsea 

W (1-2) vs. Tottenham  

W (2-5) vs. Leicester City

L (2-3) vs. Olympiakos

W (3-0) vs. Manchester United 

Watford have not beaten Arsenal in a fixture of any kind since a match at Highbury in 1988. The timing of this particular encounter isn’t a great omen for them either—the Hornets have never won a Premier League game in October. Typically, this is when their seasons in the top flight begin to unravel. 

However, there are signs that they’re more prepared for Premier League football than ever before. They have a mean defence that have conceded just three goals in their last six matches.

It will be fascinating to see how they cope with a rampant Arsenal attack: The Gunners have fired in eight goals in their previous two Premier League games.

 

The Managers 

Since arriving in the Premier League, Quique Sanchez Flores’ knowledge of and aptitude for Premier League football has been mightily impressive.

Speaking to the Watford Weekend Preview Show on Hornets PlayerHD, Flores made clear he is a huge admirer of the Arsenal side he’ll face this weekend. However, he seems admirably undaunted by the task:

"

We will play a smart match, this is the most important thing. They have a lot of quality, but for us the most important thing is to choose well in what part of the pitch we want to play.

They have a lot of variants, they have very good players and they can change their shape depending on the score of the match, but it is important that we think about us.

If we do what we are preparing to do, we will have the chance to take a positive result. 

"

As for Arsene Wenger, he goes into this game knowing that Arsenal are being considered once more as potential title winners. The win over United transformed perceptions of his team, and now they must live up to their billing.

He told Arsenal.com:

"

The target now is to refocus on what we want to achieve. We play against Watford who have conceded only one goal at home and defend very well. They are a very difficult team to play against so we have to focus to get a positive result on Saturday. 

The level of champions and people who want to fight at the top is urgency. Urgency is something that keeps you alert and we know what will be expected of us.

We have to be conscious that it will be a different game but the level of urgency is a big part of success and that is what we work on.

"

Against the likes of West Ham and Olympiakos, Arsenal have shown they can be caught out when their focus slips. They cannot afford a similar slip against Watford.

 

Team News

Watford 

There trio of Ikechi Anya, Valon Behrami and Allan Nyom all missed international duty for their respective nations due to injury. However, all three are expected to recover in time to face Arsenal on Saturday.

However, it is not all good news for Flores. Jose Manuel Jurado, Joel Ekstrand and Tommie Hoban remain out. Hoban and Ekstrand are long-term problems, but playmaker Jurado ought to return within the next couple of weeks. 

Predicted Watford XI (4-4-2): Heurelho Gomes; Allan Nyom, Sebastian Prodl, Craig Cathcart, Nathan Ake; Ikechi Anya, Morgan Schneiderlin; Etienne Capoue, Ben Watson, Almen Abdi; Odion Ighalo, Troy Deeney

 

Arsenal

According to Arsenal.com, Wenger stated that Arsenal will welcome back Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini to their squad for the Watford game. However, the availability of Francis Coquelin means that neither is likely to start.

The major doubt surrounds Laurent Koscielny, who is due to undergo a fitness test on the injury that kept him out of the international break. Should he miss out, Brazilian Gabriel Paulista should play alongside Per Mertesacker at the heart of the Gunners defence.

In attack, Wenger is likely to keep faith with Theo Walcott ahead of Olivier Giroud after his starring display against Manchester United. 

Predicted Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Petr Cech; Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker, Gabriel Paulista, Nacho Monreal; Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla; Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez; Theo Walcott

 

Players to Watch 

Watford: Odion Ighalo

No player in English league football has scored more goals in 2015 than Watford striker Odion Ighalo.

He has had an incredible year, scoring 21 times in 26 league games. Ighalo has scored each of the Hornets’ last five goals and is unsurprisingly attracting talk of a move to a bigger club.

However, speaking to the BBC, Flores insists he is going nowhere: 

"

I'm not scared about [losing] Ighalo. I'm happy with him and not thinking about what might happen in the winter market.

He had the chance to go out in the summer but decided to stay here and that was an amazing decision. When a player plays well the value changes to buy him. But we now think Ighalo is our most important player, he is very happy and can play in different positions.

"

It’s all well to say that, but if Ighalo can find the net against clubs like Arsenal, it may become difficult for Watford to hold onto the Nigerian hitman.

 

Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez

Alexis has scored five goals in his last Premier League games. After adding another three during the international break, the Chilean comes into this match on red-hot form. 

Watford’s defence has looked sturdy thus far in this Premier League campaign, but they won’t have encountered many attackers who pose the all-round threat Sanchez does. He’s also striking up a lethal partnership with Walcott—between them, the pair have scored eight goals in the Gunners’ last three games. 

Watford’s back line will have to be at its miserly best to keep the electric Alexis at bay.

 

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.