Watford vs Reading prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-11-07 20:00.
Slaven Bilić admits his Watford players are “mentally and physically tired” as they prepare for their tenth game since the start of October. The Hornets suffered a blow in their promotion battle on Saturday as they lost 1-0 to lowly Coventry, bringing a run of three successive victories to an end and slipping two points outside the play-off places in the process.
The manager may therefore look to rotate his side in their penultimate game before the World Cup break. They can ill-afford another slip up at Vicarage Road though, where Watford have already lost three times, the joint most home defeats for any team in the top half of the Championship (W5, D1), so Bilić will be demanding a response from his troops.
History dictates picking up a sixth home victory of the season will be challenging against visitors Reading, who have only lost three of their last ten away clashes with Watford (D4, L3). That may provide some solace to a Royals side who, after flirting with the top six for the first three months of the campaign, have dropped into mid-table after picking up just one win in their last eight (D2, L5).
The most recent of those was a 2-1 reversal at home to Preston on Friday, after which manager Paul Ince admitted he feels the “need to freshen up a lot of things.” He might want to start with his attack, given Reading have scored a joint-Championship low of just six goals on their travels this season, while no team has lost more times on the road, with six of their nine away matches ending in defeat (W2, D1).
Players to watch: Watford’s top scorer Ismaïla Sarr has netted six times this season, and bagged a brace when the Hornets beat Reading 2-0 in their last H2H meeting in 2021. Meanwhile, Royals midfielder Jeff Hendrick has picked up more career wins and scored more goals against Watford than any other opponent, netting four times in 14 appearances (W8, D2, L4).
Hot stat: Six of Watford’s last seven home games have contained three or more goals.