Last season turned out to be a pretty strange one for Watford. The Hornets started really strongly but then just fell rapidly away. With interest from Everton coming in for boss Marco Silva things really started to turn sour for the Hornets as they struggled their way to the finish line. Even with a change of manager, sacking Silva for Javi Gracia, things never improved for Watford, the stability just never came back. But they get to start afresh this season and they will be hoping for much better things to come.
Make of it what you will but Javi Gracia is the 4/1 favourite* (betting odds taken on July 26th, 20189 at 4:08 am) in the next manager to leave betting market at Ladbrokes ahead of the new season. Probably the big question now is whether or not he can actually turn them into something better? They just didn’t get any better, or any worse to be fair, during his spell with them at the end of last season. So the boss has a lot on his shoulders in trying to prove himself at the club and you wonder how much time he will be given if things don’t go smoothly from the start. Watford posted a W1 D2 L6 record in their final nine games of last season.
So the bookmakers are suggesting that that Hornets could be in for a difficult season under Gracia. They got a wad of cash in from the sale of the influential Richardson who went to join his former boss Marco Silva at Everton. How well will they spend? Injuries were partly to blame for their slip backwards last season but they are clearly going to need to fix some holes in the squad that became pretty evident last season. They have been shopping for bargains likes Gerard Deulofeu and Adam Masina, as well as boosting their goalkeeping ranks with Ben Foster coming in from West Brom.
The Hornets have been working at strengthening the defence, but still look as if they are going to need to shop to bring in a striker or two. Watford really struggled for goals from the middle of January to the end of the season failing to score in nine of their last sixteen fixtures. The goals aren’t going to prolifically flow from Troy Deeney and Andre Gray (albeit hampered by injury) just didn’t fit the bill for them last season.
Premier League Relegation odds*
Cardiff 8/11
Huddersfield 6/5
Fulham 15/8
Brighton 2/1
Watford 2/1
Burnley 4/1
Bournemouth 9/2
Crystal Palace 11/2
Newcastle 6/1
Wolves 6/1
Southampton 7/1
Wolves 7/1
Leicester 14/1
Everton 33/1
Bar 500/1
* (betting odds taken on July 26th, 20189 at 4:08 am)
Watford had a good looking squad last season but it just didn’t come together for them because of several reasons notably being managerial issues and injuries. So perhaps it is not a great surprise to see Watford in at 15/8 odds with Ladbrokes* (betting odds taken on July 26th, 20189 at 4:08 am) in the Premier League 2018/19 relegation market. There are some good teams coming up this season with the strengths of Watford and Fulham expected to shine and so that would make life even more difficult for Watford. The Hornets are a price of 2/5 odds to stay up* (betting odds taken on July 26th, 20189 at 4:08 am).
Fixture List
The start of the season does afford Watford a pretty decent chance of getting some points on the board as they face Brighton, Burnley and Crystal Palace in their opening three games. They go against Brighton at Vicarage Road on the opening weekend of the season and the Hornets are 6/5 odds favourites to win that game* (betting odds taken on July 26th, 20189 at 4:08 am). That short burst of fixtures in August at the start of the season are going to be vitally important for Watford to get points behind them.
Their September fixture list looks really rough as they face Spurs, Manchester United, Fulham and then Arsenal. So that will be a big test of their character there although the games against Spurs and United are at Vicarage Road. The run into the end of the season isn’t bad for Watford at all really. They have games against Arsenal and Chelsea in their final half-dozen games, but the rest of the games in that sequence look pretty manageable for them. That could be important.
Prediction
Watford are at a short price in the Premier League relegation market and that is based on the mess that they seemed to play their way into last season. However, there is a pretty strong squad that they have going there but they need the right man at the helm to take them forward. We have a hard time seeing Gracia lasting the course of the season so it’s worth having a flutter on him to go.
We do think that Watford, given the squad that they have, are just too good to go down. They should be able to pick up enough pieces and scraps throughout the course of the season to get themselves safe. An improvement in their shocking away form last season would go a long way to easing a tremendous amount of pressure of them and there should be enough for them in the final run in of fixtures for them to ensure safety. Despite their troubles last season they were only three points out of a top half of the table finish. Watford are 7/1 odds to land a top ten finish this go around* (betting odds taken on July 26th, 20189 at 4:08 am).
