Watford v Norwich: Hornets to extend top promoted club advantage

Watford 2.24 v Norwich 3.70; The Draw 3.50
Saturday, 15:00

Watford

The Hornets did the business for Betting.Betfair last week by winning at extremely generous odds of 2.92 at rock bottom Aston Villa, confirming that the 2-1 defeats to higher-ups Leicester and Manchester United were nothing to be too concerned about.

Instead, the side who have never before survived a Premier League campaign are 11th in the table, closer to the Champions League places than the relegation zone, with the 19 points in their satchel after 14 games representing a halfway mark in their pursuit of safety.

They have quite a few injury issues at the moment, with Sebastian Prodl and Valon Behrami out and Heurelho Gomes and Adlene Guedioura doubts, but for as long as Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo are fit, they won't be too stressed.

Norwich

The Canaries deserve credit for response to a point-free October, only losing in the 89th minute to Manchester City in their final fixture of that month and then beating Swansea, narrowly missing out at Chelsea and holding Arsenal.

Given the quality of those opponents, four points from four encounters is probably a pretty solid return, though with Sunderland suddenly finding form, it leaves the gap between themselves and the bottom three at a not-entirely-comfortable three points.

At least there isn't a severe injury crisis to increase any unease being felt. If Alexander Tettey makes it back this weekend, Matt Jarvis will be the sole squad member still on the sidelines, and he should be just a week or so away from a full recovery.

Match Odds

Don't pay too much attention to the statistic that Watford have lost three of their past four home contests because their conquerors were Crystal Palace (seventh), Arsenal (fourth) and Man United (third).

Far more significant is the fact that they haven't been beaten by a team outside the top seven at any venue since being promoted, a run spanning nine matches. They have won five of their last six such games. Similarly, if you focus specifically on clashes with bottom-half comrades, their six outings have yielded four victories and two draws.

Norwich have gone six Premier League away days without success, losing the latest three, and one of those was the 6-2 humiliation at the hands of lowly Newcastle. They ended a massive 12 of their last 16 top-flight road trips pointless.

Watford Clean Sheet

The visitors have scored three goals in each of their most recent three collisions with Watford and two or more in all of their previous six, yet none of those squads were as defensively sound as Quique Flores' current group, which boasts the eighth best backline record in the whole division.

The Golden Boys haven't conceded in any of their four Vicarage Road showdowns with clubs eighth or below, shutting out the likes of West Ham and Southampton, who certainly haven't struggled for goals this season. Odds of 3.00 on a clean sheet are therefore very appealing.

It is also interesting to observe that Norwich's attacking contribution has been lacking lately despite the slight improvement in results. After nine matches, they had netted 14 times - the joint-sharpest figures beyond the top eight - but they have notched a mere three times in five fixtures since.

Recommended Bet:

Back Watford to win @ 2.24