Watford welcome Huddersfield Town to Vicarage Road on Saturday afternoon looking for the win which would keep the club in the Championship playoff places.

Meanwhile, the Terriers head into this contest without an away victory in the second tier since October 31, a run spanning six fixtures.

Match preview

Watford manager Xisco Munoz pictured on January 2, 2021 © Reuters

Presented with a triple-header of Norwich City, Swansea City and Manchester United, newly-appointed boss Xisco was not given the easiest start to life at Vicarage Road.

The win over leaders Norwich City represented the perfect start for the Spaniard, but narrow defeats in the other fixtures have kept expectation levels in check.

That may prove to be a blessing in disguise for Xisco, who would have still taken plenty of positives from the setbacks at the Liberty Stadium and Old Trafford.

The Hornets created plenty of opportunities against the Premier League leaders in the FA Cup, something which would have suggested to supporters that they should expect more entertaining football under their new manager.

Now sitting down in sixth position in the Championship, Xisco will have to balance that entertainment with efficiency if he wants to keep his new club on course for a return to the top flight.

While Xisco opted to play a strong side in the cup, Huddersfield counterpart Carlos Corberan took the opposite approach for the tie with Plymouth Argyle.

The end result was a disappointing 3-2 reverse at home to the League One club, and it puts pressure on the Spaniard to get things back on track in the second tier.

Although the Terriers sit just six points adrift of their opponents, they suffered defeats to Barnsley and Reading over the Christmas and New Year period.

Victory over Blackburn Rovers has kept Huddersfield in contention for the playoffs, but another setback in quick succession would see the Yorkshire outfit drop off the pace in the race for promotion.

Watford Championship form: WWDLWL
Watford form (all competitions): WDLWLL

Huddersfield Town Championship form: LDWLWL
Huddersfield Town form (all competitions): DWLWLL

Team News

Watford captain Troy Deeney reacts as his side are relegated on July 26, 2020 © Reuters

With his players having made an impression against Man United, Xisco may decide to make few changes to his Watford XI.

While Ben Foster and Troy Deeney could return to the side, William Troost-Ekong and Will Hughes may keep their spots in the team.

Jeremy Ngakia could also return to the starting lineup in place of Adam Masina.

Having made 11 changes last weekend, Corberan could revert back to the Huddersfield side which featured against Reading on January 2.

Rolando Aarons is expected to feature among the replacements after his recent arrival from Newcastle United.

Watford possible starting lineup:
Foster; Navarro, Troost-Ekong, Sierralta, Ngakia; Sarr, Chalobah, Hughes, Zinckernagel; Pedro, Deeney

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Schofield; Pipa, Edmonds-Green, Sarr, Toffolo; Hogg, Eiting; Mbenza, Bacuna, O'Brien; Campbell

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We say: Watford 3-1 Huddersfield Town

After a mixed start to life at Vicarage Road, Xisco will be determined to put on a statement performance in this game. With that in mind, we expect the Hornets to be dominant from the off, eventually running out comfortable victors against their inconsistent opponents.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Watford win with a probability of 48.08%. A draw had a probability of 26.1% and a win for Huddersfield Town had a probability of 25.81%.

The most likely scoreline for a Watford win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.2%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.19%) and 2-0 (9.07%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.37%), while for a Huddersfield Town win it was 0-1 (8.33%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 9.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Watford would win this match.