After Watford finished 11th in the Championship in 2011-12, the club underwent a takeover from a company owned by the family of Giampaolo Pozzo and his family. As part of this, Italian manager Gianfranco Zola replaced Sean Dyche at the helm, with many expecting a decent season for the Londoners.
With Zola joining the club on July 7 he did not have much time to delve into the transfer market for permanent signings, with only Manuel Almunia and Fitz Hall arriving on free transfers.
Zola could not hold on to Adrian Mariappa who was sold to Reading and a few other players, including Scott Loach to Ipswich Town, left the club.
The real action was happening in the loan market, with a whole host of players coming in for the season from Udinese and Granada, the two clubs Pozzo revealed he had scouting links with. Among these players were Matej Vydra, Daniel Pudil, Marco Cassetti and Almen Abdi, all of whom would play a part in Watford's season.
After the first half of the Championship season, Sports Mole looks at Watford's efforts so far.
August
The season started with a narrow 1-0 win after extra time in the League Cup against Wycombe Wanderers and a late turnaround in the opening game of the Championship season away to Crystal Palace with Abdi and then Vydra snatching the points in a 3-2 win.
Watford then lost at home to Ipswich Town 1-0 before Abdi and Vydra again scored in a 2-0 win against Birmingham City, leaving the Hornets promisingly poised in fifth.
However, they were knocked out of the League Cup at home to Bradford City, despite taking the lead in the 71st minute.
September
The promising league start was undone with the first three games in September. First they were utterly outclassed at Pride Park against Derby County, falling to a 5-1 defeat.
Then, after the two-week break another away game ended in defeat, this time 2-1 to Bolton Wanderers, before a 1-0 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion left Watford struggling in 20th.
However, the Hornets battled to a 2-2 draw at Vicarage Road against Bristol City before taking a 3-2 win at Huddersfield courtesy of a late Troy Deeney penalty. That result moved them away from the drop zone into 18th.
October
Abdi was once more on the scoresheet as Watford won away from home again, this time 2-1 at Charlton Athletic. However the return to Vicarage Road was not as successful as Middlesbrough took all three points with a 2-1 win.
After the two-week break Watford recorded their first win at home for four games, although it took a last-minute Vydra penalty to defeat struggling Peterborough United.
There were two more away games left in October and both ended in defeat for Zola's men. They went down 2-1 to league leaders Cardiff City and were edged out 1-0 by Blackburn Rovers leaving them in a disappointing 16th position.
November
However, that was to be Watford's last defeat for a while as they embarked on a good run of form. It started with a solid 2-1 win at home against Leicester City, which was followed three days later by a 0-0 stalemate - this time Millwall were the visitors.
On November 10, Zola claimed his most emphatic victory to date. Vydra netted twice and Abdi once in a 6-1 thrashing of Leeds United at Elland Road, a result that catapulted Watford into 12th and in sight of the playoff spots.
The run went on; a week later Watford edged out Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 at home before being pegged back from 2-0 up to draw 2-2 against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.
November finished with another storming away win, this time 4-1 at Sheffield Wednesday. Watford managed 16 goals in the six games they played in November and ended the month eighth in the Championship.
December
When December started there was no sign of the winning streak coming to an end and the 4-1 win at home to Barnsley on December 1 made it seven without defeat.
However it came to an end at the hands of Hull City, who grabbed a 2-1 victory at Vicarage Road. A week later they recovered to draw 1-1 away to Burnley and seven days after that were back to winning ways with a Vydra double downing Nottingham Forest at Vicarage Road.
The Boxing Day encounter at Bristol City was called off just before kickoff, leaving Watford well-poised for a shot at the playoffs and even automatic promotion in sixth place in the Championship. A strong second-half of the season could see Watford once more return to the Premier League.
Matt Domm
