Watford vs West Ham United

Vicarage Road is the venue as 17th-placed Watford seek their first Premier League points in December against an out-of-form West Ham United side.

Watford will return to Premier League action following a three-match hiatus triggered by a COVID-19 outbreak at Vicarage Road, desperate to find their feet in the Premier League this term. Before a series of match cancellations, the ‘Hornets’ were on a horrendous four-game losing streak in the Premier League as they head into proceedings harboring a slender two-point lead over 18th-placed Burnley. After losing their last two Premier League home fixtures by 2+ goals ‘to one,’ Watford stare at the prospect of suffering three consecutive top-flight defeats on home turf in a single league campaign for the first time since 1987/88. Encouragingly, though, Claudio Ranieri’s men have won their final league game in the last two calendar years. However, they’ve conceded first in 13 of their 16 Premier League outings this term, going on to lose 11 such contests (W1, D1).

In the meantime, West Ham United are seemingly running out of steam, as a disappointing 3-2 defeat to Southampton on Boxing Day made it three Premier League matches without a win (D1, L2). Furthermore, the ‘Hammers’ have gone winless in their last four Premier League away games on the spin (D1, L3) since ‘hammering’ Aston Villa 4-1 in late October. After drawing a blank in back-to-back league travels in the build-up to this encounter, the Londoners face the risk of going three top-flight road trips without scoring for the first time under current boss David Moyes. If that’s not enough for concern, West Ham have already lost to the Premier League debutants Brentford earlier this season, having suffered just one defeat in 12 top-flight meetings with newly-promoted sides beforehand (W7, D4).