Watford vs Ipswich prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-12-11 19:45.
A last-gasp leveller from Rhys Healey left Watford buzzing on Saturday, earning them a point at Vicarage Road against promotion-chasing Southampton to extend their impressive run to just one defeat in ten (W5, D4). The timing of Healey’s strike shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, with only Leicester (15) netting more than the ten goals Watford have managed in the last 15 minutes of league games so far this season.
Despite “the evolution of the team being there to see”, boss Valérien Ismaël says his side “have to become more ruthless” as they continue to hunt down the top six, as they currently sit two points off the pace ahead of the round. It’s easy to see where Ismaël’s coming from in that sense too, given their 29 goals scored so far this season is the third fewest of all 12 sides starting the round in the top half.
Promoted from League One last season, Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich maintained their seven point gap to third place at the weekend with a comfortable 2-0 win at Middlesbrough. McKenna labelled it the “complete performance” away from home, and with the Tractor Boys having taken 21 points from a possible 30 taken on the road so far, they’re seemingly accustomed to turning in those complete performances the boss mentions.
As such, their bid to become the first team in over a decade to achieve back-to-back promotions from the third tier to the Premier League continues to gather momentum. It’s not just their away performances that have helped in that quest though, as their free-scoring nature means they’ve now scored in both halves in exactly 50% of their league games (10/20).
Players to watch: Watford’s top scorer Mileta Rajović (seven) has three goals in their last three home games, all of which came in the first half. In the Ipswich camp, experienced midfielder Sam Morsy is now just one yellow card away from a two-game suspension. Ominously, each of his four most recent bookings have come away from home.
Hot stat: Eight of the last ten H2Hs at Vicarage Road have ended with an odd number of goals scored.