Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Watford are currently in the midst of a bad run of form, a spell which has seen them go four games without a win but as bad as their current plight is it is not as bad as their opponents for today. That is because they face the Premier League’s basement side Sunderland who are desperately running out of games in their bid to beat the drop to The Championship.
With 10 games left to play for Sunderland they now find themselves 7 points from safety. Add to the fact that if we take 40 points as the hallowed marker which usually means Premier League survival, Sunderland only have half that tally with just 20 points to their name. Therefore they have to pick up the same amount of points in their last ten games then they have in their first 28, a tall order I’m sure we will all agree.
Once again the focus will be on Jermain Defoe, he has not been in the best of form of late for Sunderland but he will certainly be boosted by the fact that he scored for England last Sunday. The hope for David Moyes will be that Defoe can carry that international form back into domestic matters and deliver a much needed three points for The Black Cats.
Hosts Watford have lost three of their last four and have only picked up a solitary point in that spell of fixtures, that point came against West Ham at the end of February in a game where they lost new signing Mauro Zarate to a cruciate ligament injury. Another of their new January signings Tom Cleverly is now staying at Vicarage Road, he joined on loan from Everton but yesterday has signed a 5 year deal with The Hornets. That is quite the show of faith in what is most likely the now former England international.
Last time out Watford were undone by their own talisman Troy Deeney, he showed his striker instincts but unfortunately it was at the wrong end of Selhust Park. It was his header and subsequent Own Goal which was enough for Crystal Palace to earn a much needed three points to drag themselves further from the drop zone.
Watford cannot afford to rest on their laurels as they currently find themselves 14th in the table, they are not looking over their shoulder just yet but they need to make sure this run without a win does not continue. They will also be mindful of the fact of when the two sides met earlier on the season, Sunderland picked up one of their few wins of the season and will be aiming to make sure that the leagues basement side do not perform an ever rarer double.
Sunderland’s last outing was a spirited draw at home to Burnley, the game ended in a goalless stalemate and in all fairness was devoid of any real quality. It was the kind of the game that has it been played until ‘first goal wins’ they would probably still be playing now in search of a winner. Sunderland’s 24 goals a tally only worsened by Middlesbrough’s 20 has been an overriding reason for the fact that they sit bottom of the table.
I do have a feeling though that they can get something from this game, Watford are out of sorts and Sunderland need to start their great escape now. If they don’t win then the odds become almost too big in terms of survival so they need to start giving themselves the best possible chance and that is by ultimately earning all three points. Whether they can do that I’m not sure but I reckon it will be a draw this afternoon.
