The Sky Bet Championship weekend opens up at Vicarage Road on Friday night when the opening game of the latest round of matches sees Watford looking to continue their good recent form when they host Bristol City.
These two teams are at the right end of the table compared to their pre-season expectations and both of them have the chance to make an early move up the standings ahead of the remainder of the weekend so this should be a competitive one.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off.
Watford
It is never easy to assess Watford because they rarely give managers long enough to establish anything substantial and already this term they are onto their second manager of the campaign. Javi Gracia has come back for a second spell at Vicarage Road and his side have picked up seven points from his opening five matches in charge, although they were comfortable winners over high flying Middlesbrough last weekend and will be looking to build on just one defeat in four matches.
If Watford played every match at home they would be going even better than they are doing because they have a 5-1-1 record at Vicarage Road but are yet to win a match on their travels this term. This is at home though where the Hornets have won their last four matches so they are entitled to feel positive about their chances here, especially as they have a deeper squad than in the past which means that in a three game week they have more room for rotation.
Bristol City
Bristol City are going the better of the two sides heading into the weekend. Although they have lost their last two matches, they still sit a spot outside of the play-off places and well within touch of reaching the top six for the second time in as many seasons, which would have been their primary aim at the beginning of the campaign even allowing for the fact that they lost the services of the man who guided them to the postseason last term in Liam Manning.
The 5-1 thrashing at Stoke last weekend was the first defeat that the Robins have suffered on their travels this season and they had won three of the previous five prior to that so this isn’t a Bristol City outfit who have to be on home soil to be effective. The concern would be that they are beginning to rack up a number of injuries and with three matches in six days that isn’t an ideal situation. They are likely to have it tough here.
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Team News
Watford boss Javi Gracia is expected to be without Caleb Wiley for this match while Rocco Vata and Giorgi Chakvatadze are longer-term injury victims. James Abankwah returned from suspension in midweek and is expected to be picked again here.
Bristol City had a lengthy injury list to begin with but Mark Sykes and Neto Borges went down in midweek and neither are expected to be fit to feature here. They join the likes of Jason Knight, Rob Atkinson, Max Bird and Joe Williams among others on the sidelines.
Betting
Those who know my allegiances will know that backing Watford to win anything isn’t naturally in my nature but there probably isn’t a choice here with the short turnaround and the injuries that Bristol City are contending with. If Watford don’t win this then they should be very disappointed with themselves. The big positive for the Hornets, other than the fact that Bristol City are hindered with absentees is that their home record is very strong.
Even a draw at Ipswich in midweek isn’t a momentum killer for the Hertfordshire outfit and with the intense nature of Championship matches these days the ability to make changes and not weaken the side too much is a huge factor. Bristol City didn’t have a single shot on target against Blackburn in midweek and could have as many as five youth teamers on the bench here. Everything is there for a home win here and at odds against it is the value selection.
Tips
Back Watford to beat Bristol City for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
