Liverpool vs Watford 14/12/19

14 December 2019

Liverpool continue to push for the Premier League (PL) title, as they welcome dead-last Watford to Anfield, looking for another routine three points.

Encouraged by the Champions Leauge success at Salzburg, the hosts will be looking to maintain an unbeaten start to their PL season (W15, D1) and stretch their winning league run to eight straight games. Jurgen Klopp’s men have won all eight of their opening PL home matches, scoring an average of three goals per league home fixture. But, the Reds have failed to keep a clean sheet in all 11 home outings in all competitions this season. That could change now, given that the Merseyside giants have racked up five consecutive triumphs in top-flight H2Hs with Watford at Anfield, conceding only once across those clashes.

Out-of-sorts visitors have, meanwhile, suffered three successive PL defeats before being held to a goalless home draw to Crystal Palace last time out. Having picked up just one win in their opening 16 PL fixtures (W1, D6, L9), the Hornets are nailed to the bottom of the table, trailing 17th-placed Aston Villa by six points. Although Watford’s only league win came away from home, they have failed to score a single goal in both of their previous trips to the top-five sides, conceding ten goals in total across those matches. What’s more, except for a 2-0 triumph over Norwich, Nigel Pearson’s players have shipped at least one goal in all seven of their remaining PL road trips, conceding over 1.5 match goals on four of those occasions.