Arsenal vs. Watford: Team News, Live Stream, TV Info, Ticket News
When Arsenal and Watford meet at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, the Gunners will be out for revenge.
It’s a matter of weeks since these two sides faced off in the FA Cup quarter-final. On that occasion, Quique Sanchez Flores’ men ran out 2-1 winners. It was a painful defeat for Arsenal, who had hoped to become the first side of the modern era to win three consecutive FA Cups. It seems Watford had other ideas.
That was a heavy blow to Arsene Wenger, who would probably have admitted the cup represented Arsenal’s most realistic chance of silverware. Although the Gunners still have a mathematical shot at winning the league, they know they need both Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur to slip up for them to have any hope.
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All they can do for now is win their own games. When it comes to this particular match, Wenger will hope Watford’s cup exploits mean they take their eye off the ball in the Premier League.
It certainly seems as if it may be going that way: Sanchez Flores’ side have suffered three straight league defeats and have also lost four of their last five Premier League games played away from Vicarage Road.
Date: Saturday, April 2
Time: 3.00 p.m. BST/10.00 a.m. ET
Location: Emirates Stadium, London
Television coverage: NBCSN, NBC Universo (U.S. only)
Streaming: NBC Sports Live Extra (U.S. only)
Ticket Information
For ticket information on all Premier League games, visit the official site or go to the ticket page on the home club's official website. Secondary ticket information for Arsenal can be found here.
Form
Arsenal
D (2-2) vs. Tottenham Hotspur
W (0-4) vs. Hull City
L (1-2) vs. Watford
L (3-1) vs. Barcelona
W (0-2) vs. Everton
Watford
D (0-0) vs. Bournemouth
L (1-0) vs. Manchester United
L (0-1) vs. Leicester
W (1-2) vs. Arsenal
L (1-2) vs. Stoke
Watford may have won on their last visit to Arsenal, but that result ended a run that had extended to six consecutive defeats. It’s an anomaly at a ground where the Hornets generally struggle.
However, Arsenal are struggling badly at home. They have scored only six goals in their last eight home games and have not led at half-time in any of the last 10 games at the Emirates Stadium. It’s not exactly a fortress for Wenger’s men.
The Managers
In his pre-match press conference, Wenger made a clear attempt to shift the pressure on to surprise league leaders Leicester City. He told Arsenal's official website:
"If we win all the eight games, we have more than a chance to win the league, but our target is to win the games. Let’s start to be pragmatic, and win the next one which is [on Saturday].
It depends on the results of Leicester City. We are depending on Leicester City and nobody knows how they will go in the last seven games. They have seven games, we have eight. What is important is that we play our eight games with complete commitment and passion, and see where we finish.
Everyone says Leicester City is a team who have overachieved but now you see all their players go to play with their international teams and they are the best players in their national team. It is no coincidence that when a team does well, they have good players.
The stress becomes bigger but Leicester are in a very strong position at the moment. They can still lose it. The only way we can achieve that is with us performing.
"
Clearly Wenger hopes that the burden of expectation could begin to tell upon a Leicester side with little experience of a title chase.
Sanchez Flores seems to share Wenger’s belief that Arsenal could still win the title. He told Simon Mail of the Watford Observer:
"For sure [in the title race]. They are in the last opportunities they have to try to finish top of the league. They have the players and the idea obviously to beat Watford.
But we don’t need to think about the opportunities of the opponent because we don’t need to expend a lot of energy thinking about this.
For us it’s very simple. We need to recuperate our football by defending well, recovering the ball and need to finish chances. It’s very simple for us.
"
Having effectively secured safety for next season’s Premier League, Watford will play under very little pressure themselves. Perhaps that will help them in their attempts to cause another upset at the Emirates.
Team News
Arsenal
Although Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky are back in full training, neither is yet available for selection against Watford. The only potential returning player is Petr Cech, who appears to have overcome a calf problem and could be set to replace David Ospina.
That means the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain remain sidelined. After Arsenal’s excellent performance against Everton at Goodison Park, Wenger is likely to stick with the bulk of that team on Saturday, meaning the likes of Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi should continue in the side at the expense of Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott.
Predicted Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Petr Cech; Hector Bellerin, Gabriel Paulista, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal; Francis Coquelin, Mohamed Elneny; Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi; Danny Welbeck
Watford
Watford have a relatively similar squad available to the one they had before the international break. Joel Ekstrand is back in training but probably short of the requisite match fitness to start, while Tommie Hoban remains out.
Watford’s 4-4-2 formation gave Arsenal plenty of problems in the cup game, and the result of this match will depend largely on how the Gunners cope with the powerful front two of Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney.
Predicted Watford XI (4-4-2): Heurelho Gomes; Allan Nyom, Miguel Britos, Craig Cathcart, Nathan Ake; Nordin Amrabat, Mario Suarez, Valon Behrami, Etienne Capoue; Odion Ighalo, Troy Deeney
Players to watch
Arsenal: Alex Iwobi
The young midfielder made his first Premier League start in Arsenal's last game away at Everton and capped it with a terrific goal. That will surely have been enough to allow him to continue in the side for the visit of Watford.
Iwobi must be on a real high at the moment: not only has he broken into the senior Arsenal side, but he also made his competitive debut for Nigeria in the international break. He'll be eager to produce another eye-catching performance in his first league start at the Emirates.
Watford: Odion Ighalo
After being one of the early bright sparks of the season, Ighalo has begun to fade somewhat. The calendar year of 2016 has seen him score just once in 11 league appearances.
A goalscoring spree can't be far away. Arsenal will have to be on their guard if they're to see Ighalo's poor run continue. Meanwhile, Watford will be hoping their invaluable goalscorer can spring back into life to hurt the Gunners.
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.
