Chelsea vs Watford 05/07/20

05 July 2020

Chelsea and Watford will face off against each other at Stamford Bridge this weekend, as the home side seek a fourth consecutive victory in their Premier League H2Hs.

Chelsea’s pursuit of a top-four finish suffered a setback during the midweek, as a 3-2 away loss to West Ham brought their five-game unbeaten run in the Premier League to an end (W4, D1), leaving them just two points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United ahead of this round. Also, the Blues have endured mixed fortunes at home lately, picking up only three wins from their last eight league home fixtures (D1, L3), with six of those results (win/loss) seeing the winner on the day score the opening goal in the first half and add at least one more after the break. But, Chelsea can draw confidence from the fact they’ve won eight of nine competitive home H2Hs since the turn of the millennium (D1), scoring two or more goals in each of those clashes.

Meanwhile, the visitors enter this round frantically looking over their shoulders as they sit just one-point clear of relegation-threatened Aston Villa ahead of the kick-off. That’s mainly thanks to the fact they’ve failed to seal three points in four successive Premier League games ahead of this trip (D1, L3), notching under 1.5 goals on all of those occasions. Things get worse for Watford away from home. They’ve lost six of their last nine Premier League road trips (W1, D2), drawing a blank in five of those defeats. Additionally, all five of their previous top-flight trips to the current top-six sides have seen Watford fail to score and resulted in a loss of at least a two-goal margin.