Watford welcome Norwich City to Vicarage Road, knowing that they have made comfortably the best start of the three promoted clubs from the Championship last season.
The Hornets have clambered their way up to 11th in the Premier League, a better start than they could have realistically dreamt of, and if they were to win here they could be forgiven for feeling pretty safe from relegation already this season.
Norwich had a good result against Arsenal last week though, and will come into the game confident themselves. Having beaten the likes of Bournemouth and Swansea so far this season, Alex Neil’s men can consider themselves strong against lowly opposition and will therefore feel they can win this.
Key Battle – Troy Deeney vs Sebastien Bassong
Troy Deeney has been back in the goals for Watford of late, scoring four in his last five games and catapulting the Hornets up the league.
With his talismanic and leadership qualities always at the fore, Watford fans will be looking for more of the same from their number nine.
A big battle on Saturday may well be his tussle with Norwich centre-half Sebastien Bassong. The French defender has plenty of Premier League experience with Newcastle, Tottenham and Wolves and will feel he has a good chance of keeping Deeney quiet.
An added mixture to this key battle will be the fact that Bassong spent some time on loan at Vicarage Road last season, so will feel that he knows the Watford forward’s game very well.
Having played for two different sides that ended the season promoted to the Premier League, Bassong will feel the love from both sets of fans on Saturday.
Both physical players, the winner of this battle may well decide who has the better of proceedings throughout.
Team News
Quique Sanchez Flores will be sweating over the fitness of goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes ahead of Saturday’s clash after the gloveman took a bang to the neck from his own teammate Craig Cathcart at Aston Villa last week.
Valon Behrami remains a doubt with a knee injury, while Adlene Guedioura is pushing for his first start since a permanent switch in the summer.
Norwich boss Neil will be loath to change his side after they battled their way to that impressive point with Arsenal last week. His biggest selection headache will be up front, where he must decide whether to stick with last week’s goalscorer Lewis Grabban.
Head-to-Head
The sides have never before met in the Premier League, though have a good amount of recent history to fall back on.
Both sides were involved in one of the Championship’s tightest promotion races ever last season, and were both ultimately successful.
Previous Meeting
The latest of last season’s massive games between these sides in the Championship was a 3-0 win for Norwich at Vicarage Road.
After an impressive run of wins under then new manager Neil, the Canaries came to Watford knowing they would face a tough test, but a second half Lewis Grabban penalty got them on their way.
Cameron Jerome doubled the scoreline with a 20-yard half-volley, before Grabban completed the rout to send Neil’s men back to Norfolk happy.
Prediction
The Hornets have been a little inconsistent at home so far this season and will be hoping to push on into the top half of the table on Saturday afternoon.
The visitors will be confident after last season’s result though, and we can see them holding the Hornets to a draw.
Watford 1 Norwich City 1
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