Watford v Palace

Vicarage Road, Saturday 3.00pm

Mamadou Sakho

Team news

Centre backs Gary Cahill (knee) and Scott Dann (ankle) will be assessed on their fitness ahead of the trip to Vicarage Road.

Patrick van Aanholt (hamstring) misses out and he joins Joel Ward (knee) on the sidelines. Mamadou Sakho is suspended after being shown a red card against AFC Bournemouth on Tuesday. Midfielder Max Meyer is out due to sickness.

Watford duo Christian Kabasele and Roberto Pereyra could make returns after overcoming their hamstring injuries, but Craig Dawson (head) is still out.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"I think Watford is a tough game for us. It's one of those sort of semi-derbies if you like where there's always a little bit more of an edge to the game.

"Whenever we play them we're aware that we're in for a tough battle, for a tough fight and I don't think the fact that they've now changed their manager is going to change much at all."

Hayden Mullins

"It’s fantastic [nice things said by players about him] if it’s being said but I haven’t heard the comments. The support from the players is brilliant but we’re just trying to prepare for Crystal Palace.

"The last couple of days so much thought and hours has gone into Leicester and with the short turnover our focus has gone straight into Palace. There’s loads to get through at the moment and we'll prepare as well as we can. It’s a tough game but every match in this league is.

"It’s a place where I started my career and I owe a lot to Crystal Palace but it’s a job we’re looking to do on them and hopefully we’ll do it."

Watford - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
20th	15	1	5	9	8

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
16/03/2019	FA Cup	Watford	2 - 1	Crystal Palace
12/01/2019	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Watford
26/08/2018	League	Watford	2 - 1	Crystal Palace
21/04/2018	League	Watford	0 - 0	Crystal Palace
12/12/2017	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 1	Watford

All time results

Last meeting

Watford 2-1 Palace

Saturday March 16 2019

Watford: Gomes, Mariappa, Holebas (Masina, 45), Kiko, Cathcart, Pereyra, Capoue, Doucoure, Hughes (Gray, 77), Deulofeu (Cleverley, 89), Deeney

Subs not used: Success, Kabasele, Janmaat, Dahlberg

Goals: Capoue (27), Gray (79)

Bookings: Masina

Palace: Guaita, Schlupp, Tomkins, Kelly, Wan-Bissaka, McArthur (Benteke, 84), Meyer, Milivojevic, Townsend, Batshuayi, Kouyate

Subs not used: Hennessey, Ayew, Riedewald, Ward, Wickham, Woods

Goals: Batshuayi (62)

Bookings: Milivojevic