Football – England – Championship
Tuesday 1st January 2013 – Kickoff: 1300hrs
Watford and Charlton Athletic are the two teams to bring the New Year in the Championship for 2013 when they clash at Vicarage Road on Tuesday lunchtime with the hosts looking to cement their current play-off position.
Watford have put in some solid performances of late which has resulted in just one loss in their last eleven Championship matches which was a 1-2 loss to Hull City but Hull have emerged as one of the front-runners for promotion themselves in recent weeks and that defeat is no disgrace.
Recent wins over Yorkshire clubs Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley (both 4-1), a 2-0 home win over Nottingham Forest and Saturday’s 3-1 away win at Brighton have kept Gianfranco Zola’s men in the hunt for at least a play-off place and a decent run now at the turn of the year could see them challenging for automatic promotion yet.
Watford’s home record stands at 6-2-4 17/11 and it’s just the one loss in their last seven on home turf (v Hull City) and they’ve failed to score on just three occasions so far. Watford also boast a potent strike partnership of Troy Deeney (9 goals, 2 assists) and Matej Vydra (10 goals, 3 assists) who have assisted in Watford’s progression this season and along with Almen Abdi (5 goals, 3 assists) and Mark Yeates (3 goals, 5 assists) and Forestieri (3 goals, 4 assists) they have plenty of attacking options at their disposal.
Onto Charlton then, and following a promising run of form during November where The Valiants recorded four wins from five league matches (wins over Cardiff City 5-4, Bristol City 2-0, Burnley 1-0 and Peterborough United 2-0), they have now slumped down to 18th place on the back of a six match sequence without a league win.
Recent defeats against Bolton, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town has resulted in Chris Powell’s men dropping down the table to just above the bottom four. However, with eight points between themselves and relegation-threatened Bristol City, Powell will be keen to avoid any unnecessary last-minute relegation fears and they should escape the drop comfortably.
Charlton have more or less held their own against the teams around them in the division, but their away record needs greater consistency which currently stands at 4-4-4 13/13 but they’ll be looking to score more goals to keep them out of trouble this year. Danny Haynes (5 goals) is their leading scorer and has goalscoring midfielder Jonnie Jackson (4 goals, 2 assists) in support. Bradley Pritchard (4 assists) and Yann Kermorgant also provide threats, but this trip may be a bridge too far today and they may have to wait for the visit of Huddersfield Town next up for more points.
Watford should simply have too much class for their London counterparts this afternoon and with their solid form and home advantage I’ll tip them for the straight win with The Hornets running out 2-1 winners.
Pick: Watford straight win @ 2.00 bet365 looks decent value
