Watford vs Southampton prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-12-08 15:00.
In a week that’s seen two Championship managers lose their job, it’ll come as a welcome relief to Watford fans that Valérien Ismaël wasn’t one of them. The Hornets showed faith in the Frenchman through a five-match winless run, and that’s paid dividends as they’ve now lost just one of their last nine league outings (W5, D3) and are closing in on the play-offs as a result.
Ismaël stressed the importance of stability in the wake of their 2-1 victory over Hull on Saturday, and his defence is standing up to that statement, as only West Brom have kept more clean sheets in the division than Watford’s seven. Five of those came at Vicarage Road, and the Hornets faithful will be desperate for another here, not least because it’d give them a great chance at a first H2H victory on home soil over Southampton since September 2007 (D4, L4)!
That’s not a record that looks like changing anytime soon if the Saints’ recent form is anything to go by, as they’re now unbeaten in 11 consecutive matches (W8, D3). Boss Russell Martin lamented that his side didn’t score more in their 2-0 victory over Cardiff, as he knows the standard his side need to reach if they’re to close the eight-point gap to the automatic promotion places.
Only Leicester and Ipswich in that top-two have won more points on the road than Southampton, but all five of their away wins have come by a single-goal margin. Martin’s men have netted first in eight of their nine road trips, and doing so again could help them on their way to maintaining a dominant H2H record in recent times (W8, D6, L2).
Key battle: Watford defender Wesley Hoedt scored one of the goals of the season from 45-yards to settle his side’s clash with Hull. He’ll have spent most of his time preparing to shackle his old side’s talisman Adam Armstrong, who has directly contributed to 16 league goals this term (G12, A4) – a joint-league high at the end of the last round.
Hot stat: Both teams have scored in 13 of Southampton’s 19 league games.