by Ian S. Palmer
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Newly-promoted Watford will attempt to derail the reigning English Premier League champions this Wednesday, February 3 when they host Chelsea in an crucial league match at Vicarage Road. Chelsea is coming off of a 5-1 win over lower-league side MK Dons in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday while Watford beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 on the road in the same competition. Chelsea is suffering their worst season in years and like Watford, will be lucky if they can finish high enough to qualify for next season’s Europa League.
Watford vs Chelsea – Pinnacle SOCCER BETTING LINE:
- Pinnacle currently lists Chelsea as the favorites at -103 with Watford +336 and a draw at +251
Watford vs Chelsea Head to Head:
- The two clubs met each other at Stamford Road in London on Boxing Day and played to a 2-2 draw. Chelsea met Watford in last year’s FA Cup tournament and beat them 3-0 at home. Their previous meeting was back in 2010 and also at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup with the home side winning 5-0. Chelsea has won six of the last seven meetings with four of them being FA Cup games and two of them being Premier League outings in 2006/2007. Overall, the teams have met 28 times with Chelsea winning 14, losing nine and drawing five. Watford is winless in the past nine meetings with their last victory being 1-0 in a 1999 league game at home.
Chelsea enters the 24th round of action in 13th place in the 20-team league with 28 points from seven wins, seven draws and nine losses. They’ve scored 32 goals and allowed 34 against. They’ve played 11 times on the road with three wins, three draws and five defeats. Chelsea has scored 12 times in their away fixtures and has allowed 15 against. They have two wins, two draws and two defeats in their past half dozen away outings with two straight wins. Chelsea has four clean sheets away so far this year and have also failed to score in four games. Overall, they have seven clean sheets and have been shut out five times.
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Watford enters the contest in 10th place with 32 points. They have nine victories, five draws and nine losses while scoring 27 times and allowing 26 against. They enter the game 15 points behind first-place Leicester City while Chelsea is 19 points behind top spot. Watford has five wins at home along with two draws and five defeats with 13 goals for and 11 against. They have three victories and three defeats in their last six home fixtures. Watford has six clean sheets at home and has been shut out four times. Overall, they’ve recorded eight clean sheets and have failed to find the back of the net in seven outings.
Chelsea hasn’t lost a game since Guus Hiddink took over as manager from the sacked Jose Mourinho, but they’ve drawn about half of them since he arrived. The team is expected to be without striker Radamel Falcao while Loic Remy and Willian are expected to be back. Watford will likely be without Joel Lloyd Doyley only as everybody else is listed as being healthy. Watford has acquired Nordin Amrabat from Malaga in the recent transfer window as well as goaltender Costel Pantilimon from Sunderland and Mario Suarez from Fiorentina. Chelsea has brought in Alexandre Pato from Corinthians and Matt Miazga from the New York Red Bulls while Ramires has left the club.
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