Liverpool vs Watford 28/02/19

28 February 2019

Obliged to wrap up all three points, Liverpool welcome Watford to Anfield in the midweek hoping to stretch an impressive Premier League home run.

With Manchester City reducing the gap to one single point, the Merseysiders can’t afford a new failure if looking to avoid another trophyless season. The hosts boast an almost perfect home record (W11, D2) having bagged 35 goals on an average of 2.69 goals scored per match. Moreover, Jurgen Klopp’s men have notched 3+ match goals in four of their last five PL home clashes although they’ve failed to preserve a clean slate three times in the process. However, the Reds have conceded fewer goals at home than any other side in the English top tier (7) keeping eight clean sheets in 13 outings so far. Another encouraging fact for the home fans is that their team outplayed Watford in all five of their previous H2H meetings at this venue, scoring 16 goals while allowing just one.

The visitors, on the other hand, go into this meeting off the back of a stunning 5-1 road win over Cardiff City, which was their second straight Premier League win. Currently trailing sixth-placed Chelsea by ten points, the Hornets have virtually no chance of ensuring the Europa League promotion for the next season, but they are still eager to settle the score with Liverpool after a disastrous 3-0 home loss in the first half of the season. However, after a 2-1 home win over Tottenham back in September, the Golden Boys have seen no success against the top-six PL teams this campaign, losing all six of their next encounters with the best English clubs. Another important thing for Javi Gracia is that his players preserved four clean slates in their last seven road games across all competitions, allowing over 1.5 goals per match only once in the process.