Manchester United vs Watford – Match Preview
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You wait for one defeat under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in domestic competition and then two come along at once. With Manchester United suffering a recent league reverse to Arsenal, they then followed that up with an F.A. Cup exit to Wolves.
Both those losses were away from home and it will obviously be of some comfort to United’s interim manager, that they now return to Old Trafford this weekend and prepare for the visit of a high-flying Watford outfit.
Javi Gracia’s men have designs on European football next season and due to their continued progress in the F.A. Cup, it means that the Hornets have two potential routes to complete that objective.
They go into this Saturday’s game with Manchester United, while lying eighth in the Premier League table and a point behind Wolves - who they subsequently meet in the F.A. Cup Semi-finals at the start of next month.
The fact that Watford find themselves in the top half of the table has to be considered progress in itself. Especially when you consider that at this point of the season, they usually are in the midst of a slow crawl down the table.
That just goes to show how much of a positive influence that manager Javi Gracia has had on the club since his arrival at Vicarage Road last season and the fans are now reaping the benefits of the attractive football that has recently been on display.
At the same time Watford are not afraid to mix it up either and they know that they’ll be up for a challenge when going up against a United side, that now find themselves outside the top four of the table.
As things stand, it means that the Red Devils will not qualify for the Champions League – that is unless they go on to win this season’s edition of the competition and they know that there is very little margin for error in these final eight games of the campaign.
While it was the aforementioned defeat to Arsenal, which has seen them leapfrogged by the Gunners in the race for fourth place and there was certainly a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show in that Emirates performance.
That’s because it came just days after their incredible win over PSG in the Champions League Round of 16 and you almost got the feeling that they expended too much energy in the French capital, leaving them with nothing in the tank for domestic matters.
It was not an excuse that they could get away with when up against Wolves in the F.A. Cup, although to look for excuses would arguably do Nuno Espirito Santo’s men a disservice. The simple reason being, that they were easily the better side that evening.
With the international break behind them, it would have given United the chance to regroup and recoup after a difficult week and therefore a return to winning ways looks the likely outcome this Saturday afternoon at Old Trafford.
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