Manchester United are back from international break. It was the final international break of 2021 and we will now have a clear period of club football for the next four months, until the March qualifiers in 2022. After this two-week break, the Red Devils have had enough time to get some rest, especially as there were less Man United players in action for their national sides. Some had a good time qualifying for the World Cup, the others were not so successful. Nevertheless, now is the good time for this team to start winning again, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team is in bad need of getting the three points.
It is good then that Man United are visiting Vicarage Road, to face Watford, following just one win in the past four matches. There were big losses to Liverpool and Manchester City in the meantime, and also a draw against Atalanta. With Man United sitting in sixth place and getting further away from those Champions League spots, beating Claudio Ranieri’s Watford is definitely a must.
Team News
Watford will be without plenty of players for this one. Juraj Kucka is suspended, while the likes of Francisco Sierralta, Ken Sema, Christian Kabasele, Peter Etebo and Kwadwo Baah are all injured. That is why Ranieri will have to mix things up.
Solskjaer, on the other hand, will be without Edinson Cavani and Raphael Varane, who are both still injured. Paul Pogba is also injured, but is also suspended, so he would have missed this game anyway. Scott McTominay had some issues with illness recently, but he should be ready for this game. All the other players are ready to feature for Man United.
Form Guide
Looking at Watford’s form, things are far from great. They have just one win in their past seven matches, when they won 5-2 at Everton’s Goodison Park. Apart from that, only losses have been accumulating. In the last two games, Watford lost 1-0 to Southampton and Arsenal. Before that, they also lost 5-0 to Liverpool at home and also 1-0 against Leeds away. Their only draw in the past few months was against Newcastle at home and Watford even go eliminated from the League Cup, losing 3-1 at home to Stoke City. It really paints a good picture of how bad things have been at Watford. No wonder why all the eyes will then be at Claudio Ranieri in the next few months, as he will try to calm the ship in these murky waters.
As we mentioned already about Man United, there has been just one Premier League win for them in the past two months. Ever since that win against West Ham on 19 September, exactly two months have passed and United only managed to beat Tottenham Hotspur, also away from home. Sure, there were wins over Villarreal and Atalanta in the meantime, but none of that is sufficient for this team and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knows that.
Predicted Outcome
Considering how badly Man United are in need of a win and that they will be a bit fresher from the international break than they usually are, this should be a good match for them. We predict Man United to beat Watford 2-1, mostly because of the defence’s inability to keep a clean sheet this season. But there is clearly sufficient quality to dispatch Watford ahead of Champions League football.
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