Championship

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Championship | Gameweek 29

Feb 13, 2021 at 3pm UK

Vicarage Road

Watford
6 - 0
Bristol City

Moore (2' og.), Sarr (15', 55'), Hughes (30'), Sema (35'), Zinckernagel (90')
Chalobah (17'), Pedro (81')

FT(HT: 4-0)

Moore (7'), Diedhiou (47'), Palmer (81')

Preview: Watford vs. Bristol City - prediction, team news, lineups

By Olly Allen | 11 February 2021

Sports Mole previews Saturday's Championship clash between Watford and Bristol City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Bristol City will be hoping to keep their playoff hopes alive when they travel to Watford in the Championship on Saturday.

The Robins have fallen to 10th following three successive defeats, while the Hornets moved up to fourth in midweek despite not playing a game.

Match preview

Watford's Troy Deeney celebrates scoring against Barnsley on January 19, 2021 © Reuters

Watford's progress up the table came as a result of Reading's defeat to Brentford, with Xisco Munoz's side now seven points behind the top two and eight points clear of seventh-placed Middlesbrough.

The Hornets have lost just one of their last six matches and drew 0-0 away to Coventry City last weekend.

The stalemate brought their 13th clean sheet of the season, while only Swansea City (15) have conceded fewer goals in the Championship than Watford (20).

No team in the division has won more games (10) or picked up more points (32) at home than the Hertfordshire side, whose 2-1 defeat at Vicarage Road to Queens Park Rangers at the start of February was only their second home loss of the season.

Bristol City's Nahki Wells celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates on January 23, 2021 © Reuters

Watford's record in their own ground is not good news for Bristol City, who have lost their last six league games on the road and were beaten 1-0 away at Sheffield United in the FA Cup on Wednesday night.

The loss to the Blades followed a 2-0 defeat to Cardiff City in the Championship last weekend, which made it just three wins in the Robins' last 11 league matches.

The pressure is beginning to grow on Dean Holden, with Bristol City now six points behind the playoffs, and after the trip to Watford, they face another top-six side on Tuesday in the shape of Reading.

The reverse fixture at Ashton Gate in November finished 0-0, which is not too surprising given that Bristol City (29) and Watford (31) are the two lowest-scoring teams in the top half of the Championship.

Watford Championship form: WWWDLD

Bristol City Championship form: WLWLLL
Bristol City form (all competitions): WWLLLL

Team News

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

Watford are confident that Kiko Femenia will be available again, with the right-back having missed the last two games with a knock.

January signing Dan Gosling is in contention to make his debut after building his fitness in the last fortnight since his move from Bournemouth.

Will Hughes could come into the Hornets side in a central midfield position, pushing Troy Deeney up to the centre forward spot, where Andre Gray has underwhelmed in recent weeks.

Alfie Mawson will serve a one-match suspension for Bristol City following his red card against Sheffield United in midweek.

Dan Bentley and Henri Lansbury should return to the starting lineup after being rested against the Blades.

Holden handed a debut to 18-year-old Ryley Towler at left-back in the cup, and the youngster could keep his spot in the starting XI.

Watford possible starting lineup:
Bachmann; Femenia, Troost-Ekong, Sierralta, Masina; Chalobah, Cleverley; Sarr, Hughes, Sema; Deeney

Bristol City possible starting lineup:
Bentley; Hunt, Kalas, Moore, Towler; Lansbury, Vyner, Massengo; Wells, Diedhiou, Semenyo

SM words green background

We say: Watford 1-0 Bristol City

These two teams have struggled in recent weeks, and it could be a close and nervous game as both are low on confidence; we are backing Watford to earn a narrow victory, though, due to their excellent home record and the quality they can show if they click into gear.

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 60.77%. A draw had a probability of 22.7% and a win for Bristol City had a probability of 16.53%.

The most likely scoreline for a Watford win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.2%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.87%) and 2-1 (9.65%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.73%), while for a Bristol City win it was 0-1 (5.97%). The actual scoreline of 6-0 was predicted with a 0.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Watford would win this match.