Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Two Italian managers go head to head at Vicarage Road this afternoon as Walter Mazzari’s Watford play host to Antonio Conte’s Chelsea in what is set to be a continental clash in a very domestic setting.
Antonio Conte got his reign as Chelsea manager off to the ideal start on Monday night as he side got the better of West Ham in what was a lively London derby. I wouldn’t quite say it was a flying start as Chelsea needed a last minute goal to snatch all three points, but Conte and his men will nevertheless be delighted that they came away from that bruising encounter with a win.
Watford got off the mark last weekend with a 1-1 draw away at Southampton. That game saw two managers make their Premier League debuts in Mazzari and Southampton’s Claude Puel and they had to make do with honours even on the South Coast.
The Hornets were down to 10 men for the last 15 minutes of match after Ben Watson was sent off and on the balance of play they would have been happy to see out the game with a draw. It was neither Odion Ighalo or Troy Deeney who got on the scoresheet and they will be looking to open their accounts for the season against Chelsea.
Chelsea left it late to win against West Ham and arguably made the game harder than it needed to be. After going ahead through Eden Hazard after the break they had plenty of opportunities to kill the game off only to be pegged back by James Collins. Thankfully they seem to have the old Diego Costa back and his late winner gave Chelsea the win that they deserved.
Conte will be looking to carry that momentum over to Today and although this Chelsea side is still a work in progress you would imagine that they will have enough quality to clear the hurdle that Watford will put up this afternoon. An away win for me.
