2017/18 Premier League Preview Watford
Having won promotion from the Championship in 2014/15, Watford did well to finish 13th in the Premier League in their first season back in English football’s top division.
Following a tricky to start to last season, Watford found themselves as high as 7th in the Premier League table following a 3-2 home win over Everton in December. Despite some disappointing results after that game, Watford were still 9th in the league with 8 games of the season remaining.
What followed was a dreadful run of form which saw Watford lose all their last six games of the season. The Hornets dropped like a stone down the Premier League and finished in 17th place.
Thanks to their poor form at the end of the season, Walter Mazzarri lost his job and Watford have appointed Marco Silva as the man to lead the team in the 2017/18 Premier League season. Can the Portuguese manager keep Watford clear of the relegation zone?
There is no doubt Watford have some talented players at their disposal and Silva’s biggest job at Vicarage Road will to blend the players he has into a good team. Interestingly, in six of the last eight Premier League seasons, the team finishing 17th in the league the season before has been relegated.
Watford are 15/8 to be relegated this season, which makes them one of the leading candidates for the drop.
To try and avoid being involved in a relegation battle, Silva has brought in several players during the summer transfer window. Tom Cleverley’s loan move has been made permanent and the addition of young English talent in the way of Will Hughes and Nathaniel Chalobah is an encouraging sign.
Young Brazilian forward Richarlison has joined for a fee of just over £11 million and there will be a lot of pressure on his shoulders to deliver the goods in his first season in the Premier League. Watford fans will also be hoping to see Roberto Pereyra complete a full season, having joined from Juventus last season.
Richarlison comes in at 5/1 to be Watford’s top scorer this season but Troy Deeney is the man who remains their biggest goal scoring threat and he is 13/8 to top the goal scoring charts at Vicarage Road.
The best Watford can realistically hope for this season is to finish in the top half of the table. With five games left last season they were sitting 10th in the Premier League, so there is no reason why they cannot challenge for a top half finish.
Watford are 8/1 to finish in the top half of the Premier League and clearly the bookmakers believe this to be out of their reach. If Watford make a good start to the season, they may be able to sustain a top half place but anything like the capitulation of last season would make a poor start to the season potentially catastrophic.
A bottom half finish at 1/12 seems the most likely place for Watford to finish this season, just above the relegation zone.
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