At A Glance
Hurting after a narrow defeat against Newcastle United last weekend, Aston Villa will be looking to bounce back when Watford visit Villa Park on Saturday.
A scrappy game on Tyneside was decided by a single goal, leaving Steven Gerrard’s side with one win in their last five Premier League games.
On Saturday, the Villa head coach comes up against one of his former managers, Roy Hodgson, for the first time.
The 74-year-old took over at Vicarage Road in January and has overseen two defeats and a draw from three games at the helm, with Watford failing to score in all of them.
Brighton downed the Hornets last time out, seeing them off 2-0 to leave Hodgson's men stuck in the relegation zone heading into this weekend.
When the two teams met on the opening day of the campaign, Watford ran out 3-2 winners.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa have lost just one of their last nine home league games against Watford (W6 D2), going down 3-2 in November 2015.
Watford have won four of their last five league games against Aston Villa (L1), just one fewer than they had in their first 16 meetings with the Villans (W5 D5 L6).
Aston Villa are one of three teams to have scored in 100% of their Premier League home games this season (11/11), along with Liverpool and West Ham United. Overall, the Villans have scored in their last 12 Premier League home games, their longest such run in the competition since a run of 16 between May 2007 and March 2008.
Aston Villa have conceded 18 goals in their last eight Premier League home games, one more than they had in their previous 17 at Villa Park combined.
Watford have failed to score in their last four Premier League games – they last had a longer run without a league goal between September and October 1987 (5 games), during a season in which they were relegated from the top-flight.
Since beating Manchester United 4-1 in November, Watford have taken just two points from 33 available in the Premier League (W0 D2 L9). Indeed, no side is on a current longer winless run in the competition than the Hornets (11 games).
Watford are the only side yet to score from outside the box in the Premier League this season. Indeed, of teams with at least 50 goals in the competition’s history, only Wimbledon (9.1%) have scored a lower percentage from distance than Watford (9.7% - 29/299).
Aston Villa striker Danny Ings has scored in each of his last three Premier League games against Watford, netting four goals in total in this run. His first goal for the Villans came in the reverse fixture on the opening weekend this season.
Watford have failed to score in any of their three Premier League games under Roy Hodgson. Only three permanent managers have ever seen their side fail to score in their first four Premier League games in charge – Frank De Boer at Crystal Palace (2017), Brendan Rodgers at Swansea City (2011) and Stuart Gray at Southampton (2001).
Twenty-year-old Jacob Ramsey has scored five Premier League goals for Aston Villa this season; only two players have scored more in a single campaign for the Villans while aged under 21 – Luke Moore in 2005-06 (8) and Gabriel Agbonlahor in 2006-07 (9).
The Last Meeting
Watford came out firing on their return to the Premier League in August, taking a 3-0 lead against Villa on the opening day of the season.
The Hornets were ahead after ten minutes and doubled their lead shortly before half-time.
Cucho Hernandez added a third before John McGinn and Danny Ings struck back for the Villans late on.
Team News
Villa’s only injury absentees for Saturday’s game are Bertrand Traore and Marvelous Nakamba.
Ezri Konsa serves the final game of his two-match ban.
For Watford, Peter Etebo is back in full training while Nicolas Nkoulou misses out.
The Boss
“We’ll have to be good, we’ll have to perform well. We’ll have to have the creation and invention to find a lot of outcomes in the game. We want to try and entertain when we get into the final third. We know we’re going to have to beat Roy’s organisation while also focussing on the threat they carry on the counter-attack. We’ve worked on it all, we’ve covered all the bases. I’ve got belief and confidence that we’ve got enough players within our system that can find breakthroughs, create and score. We’ve just got to go out and execute.”
Steven Gerrard
