Watford will look to keep their slim playoff hopes alive when they host struggling Blackpool at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

The Hornets are currently eight points behind sixth-placed Reading and a poor mid-season run of form appears to have had a fatal impact on their playoff aspirations.

However, with 14 games remaining, the opportunity is still there for Watford to make a late charge for the top six, although they would need a number of other results to go their way.

If they are to make an unlikely push for playoff football, they can not afford many repeats of their last outing as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Bolton Wanderers.

Giuseppe Sannino's side have only scored two goals in their last four matches, although the loss to Bolton was their first defeat in six.

Watford have been very impressive at Vicarage Road recently, losing just one of their last seven matches there in all competitions while keeping six clean sheets and conceding only one goal.

The hosts will be without suspended duo Samba Diakite and Joel Ekstrand, but new signing Lucas Neill could feature having joined the club earlier this week.

Blackpool, meanwhile, are being dragged dangerously close to a fiercely contested relegation dogfight following yet another defeat in their most recent outing.

The 2-1 loss at home to Birmingham made it a whopping 16 games without a win in all competitions, and the Seasiders now sit just eight points clear of the bottom three.

That gap could be cut shorter still if Charlton Athletic make the most of their three games in hand, and Barry Ferguson's side need to find an elusive victory sooner rather than later.

Their tally of four points from the last 45 available is relegation form, and if they can't turn things around before the end of the campaign then they could well find themselves playing in League One next season.

Things look especially grim for Blackpool when it comes to their away form having not won any of their last 10 matches on the road, picking up two points from the 27 on offer in the Championship during that spell.

A goalless draw against Ipswich Town at Portman Road in their last away match brought an end to a run of eight straight defeats on their travels, but they have scored just four goals in their last nine, while conceding 21.

Ferguson will be without the services of Jack Robinson for the match after he picked up his third red card of the season during the defeat to Birmingham.

Recent form

Watford: WDWWDL

Blackpool: DLLDDL

Possible starting lineups

Watford: Almunia; Doyley, Cassetti, Angella; Faraoni, Murray, Battocchio, Tozser, Pudil; Deeney, Ranegie

Blackpool: Gilks; Cathcart, Broadfoot, Mackenzie, Halliday; Dobbie, Perkins, Basham, Bishop; Keogh, Davies

Sports Mole says: 2-0

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