Sports Blog 03/02/2016: Match Preview – Watford vs Chelsea, Wednesday 3rd February 2016

Can Watford make the jump to 7th with a victory over a recovering, but still vulnerable, Chelsea when the sides meet at 7.45pm on BT Sport 1?

There has been a notable change since Jose Mourinho packed his bags to make way for Guus Hiddink in mid-December, none more so than after losing 9 games in 16 Premier League matches Chelsea are now unbeaten in 7. Not that it has been all smooth sailing; only 3 of those games have been victories (over Sunderland, Crystal Palace and, as ever, Arsenal), with draws coming against Watford, Manchester United, West Brom and Everton.

That form, whilst an undoubted improvement on the bitter end to the second reign of the Special One, still leaves the Blues languishing in the bottom half of the table, stuck in 14th place with a meagre 28 points. Chelsea have seen, however, less-caveat filled success in the FA Cup, a 2-0 win over Scunthorpe and a 5-1 demolition of MK Dons setting up an unenviable 5th round encounter against Manchester City.

Things have been immeasurably helped by the fact that Diego Costa (at a Super Mega PGM of 29-35) has looked far better since Hiddink took over, scoring 5 goals in the 9 games under the Dutchman’s tenure; Oscar (at 11/2 to score first) has 5 in the same period, his hat-trick against MK Dons the highlight of the Blues’ weekend cup win.



Watford, on the other hand, seeing to be going in the other direction to Chelsea; after making a real impact on their return to the Premier League the Hornets have begun to falter in the last month and a half. Since Chelsea ended their 4 game winning streak on Boxing Day with a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge Quique Flores’ side have struggled, losing to Tottenham, Manchester City, Southampton and Swansea, before finally ending their miserable form with a 2-1 victory over Newcastle.

That Toon toppling was the second time Watford beat Newcastle in January, the other being a 1-0 win in the FA Cup 3rd round. The Hornets then faced Nottingham Forest in the 4th, and were lucky not to exit, Forest punished for their missed chances by an 88th minute strike from Odion Ighalo. Ighalo, 4th top scorer in the league with 14 goals (15 in all competitions) remains Watford’s most important player, and heads into Wednesday night’s game at a Super Mega PGM of 23-28, with Troy Deeney complimenting his teammate at a Super Mega PGM of 13-17.

Despite all the excitement (well, not for Chelsea fans) in the first half of the season the Blues appear to be close to righting their ship; the Hornets, on the other hand, are in the midst of a relative dry spell that has damaged their chances of pushing for a place in Europe. In others words, our Spreadex traders fancy an away win, offering a Chelsea/Watford (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.5-0.7 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.35-2.55.

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