Saturday Premier League Cup Preview and Odds – Watford vs Liverpool

August 12, 2017 12:30pm

Vicarage Road

Recent form (All competitions)

Watford: DDWWL

Liverpool: WLWWW

Watford ended last season with a miserable run of six straight defeats which ultimately spelled the end for Coach Walter Mazzarri. This season, they start with renewed optimism under the guidance of former Hull City boss Marco Silva.

The Portuguese coach impressed in his short but ultimately ill-fated spell on Humberside in which he failed to prevent the club from dropping straight back into the Championship. His cause was not helped by a late season injury crisis which prompted a reversal of fortune after an earlier spell of improvement.

The Hertfordshire club come into this game on the back of four-straight clean sheets which included a 1-0 win against Eibar and a 0-0 draw against Real Sociedad. Those results against top flight Spanish opposition suggest that Marco Silva’s men are going to be tough to beat again this term.

To aid the Hornet’s cause, striker Richarlison has been recruited from Fluminense, while the experienced Tom Cleverley and highly rated youngster Will Hughes have also been drafted in to bolster the midfield. New defensive arrivals include deep-lying midfielder Nathanial Chalobah (formerly of Chelsea) and right-back Kiko Femenia who spent last season at Alaves in La Liga.

Liverpool sometimes struggled against the lesser sides last term and were famously beaten 2-0 away from home by Silva’s Hull City. As a result, they will be looking to emerge from this fixture with all three points to lay down an early marker to their rivals.

The club have stated that Phillipe Coutinho is not for sale at any price despite strong interest from abroad so the Brazilian could feature this weekend if he recovers from a back injury in time. However, creative midfielder Adam Lallana will definitely miss out.

New signings Mohamed Salah and Dominic Solanke have impressed in pre-season and will be hoping for some action on Saturday.

Prediction

Liverpool will not get an easy time here but they had a strong pre-season and will be full of confidence ahead of this clash. They have a much more settled squad that the hosts and should have enough quality to grab all three points.

Back Liverpool to win at 8/13 with Betfair.