BURNLEY v WATFORD – Pick: 2 AH+0.25 – 15 December 2012

Football – England – Championship

Saturday 15^th December 2012 – Kickoff:  1500hrs

Lower half team Burnley take on play-off candidates Watford at Turf Moor on Saturday afternoon as they bid to pull away from the lower reaches of the Championship.

However, that could be easier said than done against a Watford outfit who are pushing hard for at least a play-off place and have been unbeaten in their last three matches on their travels. As for Burnley, they’ve won just once in their last six league matches overall which was a surprising 1-0 win at Hull City and you have to go back to beginning of November for their last home win which was against Leeds United.

Burnley’s home record stands at an acceptable  5-3-2  18/12 although they’ve recently lost 0-1 to Charlton Athletic and were held to a 1-1 draw in a local derby with Blackburn Rovers. Striker Charlie Austin (17 goals, 2 assists) is their obvious dangerman up front, while Martin Paterson (4 goals, 1 assist) and Chris McCann (3 goals, 4 assists) have assisted also. Talking of assists, Kieran Trippier and Junior Stanislas have both contributed with 6 assists each and Ross Wallace has 4 assists to his name.

The visit of Hull City last weekend rudely interrupted Watford’s seven match unbeaten run when they lost 1-2 to The Tigers in a slightly surprising scoreline. However, Watford do have a chance to get something from this match as their recent away form has been sparkling; a 6-1 win at Elland Road saw off hosts Leeds United along with a 4-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday last time out along with a point at Blackpool sandwiched in between.

Other recent wins for the visitors include wins over Leicester City, Wolves and Barnsley and they will need to get at least a point at Turf Moor to hold onto their current play-off position I feel. Watford’s away form reads   5-1-4  23/19 and they are the league’s highest goalscorers away from home.

Forward Troy Deeney (9 goals, 2 assists) leads their scoring charts along with Matej Vydra (8 goals, 3 assists) with support from Almen Abdi (5 goals, 1 assist). Creativity for The Hornets has been supplied by midfielder Mark Yeates (3 goals, 5 assists) and Fernando Forestieri (3 goals, 4 assists).

Whilst Burnley have made improvements in recent weeks, I still feel Watford have enough about them to get at least a point here today which would earn us half of our stake in profit with the +0.25 handicap so I recommend Watford not to lose basically. Could be a 1-1 draw.

Pick:  Watford AH+0.25 @ 1.84 Bet Victor