Watford v Palace

Vicarage Road, Saturday 3.00pm

The FA Cup

Story so far

It looks like Watford are turning into the new Preston - we get to play them more than twice a season! At least this one is only a short trip on the train with the opportunity for a decent all day session.

In fact, I'm sure that's why we always take such a crowd there. Forget the football, ground and game and just head to the pub for opening - you can't go wrong.

Watford are back to the level I perceive them to be at - the level before Bothroyd did the completely unexpected and managed to get them promoted.

There's not much too them at the moment - they certainly can't defend but they're doing alright going forward, so our defence needs to stay pretty alert.

Watford are sitting just below the drop zone with 50 goals conceded - only Charlton have conceded more goals. They've notched up 38 goals though, which is only one less than us.

Team news

Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock is set to name an unchanged squad for the trip to the Hornets.

Ben Watson is on the verge of joining Middlesbrough so won't play and neither will Paddy McCarthy who is recovering from a shoulder injury.

Watford midfielder John-Joe O'Toole returns from suspension and loanees Gavin Hoyte, Jack Cork and Liam Bridcutt are all available to play. Lee Williamson is back from injury and winger Lionel Ainsworth has returned from his loan stint at Hereford United.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"Fortunately, Graham Poll's retired so I won't have a problem from that point of view - there'll be no blame placed on him this time. The atmosphere in our camp is good. Generally, we have been playing well but individual mistakes have been letting us down. If we put that right we can get our season back on track."

Watford - league stats

Full league table

Watford - current form

Full form table

Our away record v Watford

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
09/08/2008	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 0	Watford
19/04/2008	League	Watford	0 - 2	Crystal Palace
05/01/2008	FA Cup	Watford	2 - 0	Crystal Palace
29/10/2007	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 2	Watford
09/05/2006	League	Watford	0 - 0	Crystal Palace

All time results

One to watch

Tommy Smith

Ref watch

Michael Oliver (Northumberland).

Last meeting

Palace 0-0 Watford

Saturday August 09 2008

Palace: Speroni, Butterfield, Lawrence, McCarthy, Hill, Soares, Derry, Carle, Scowcroft, Moses (Andrew, 86), Scannell (Ifill, 55)

Subs not used: Fonte, Fletcher, Ertl

Bookings: Derry, Lawrence

Watford: Poom, Sadler, Doyley, Bromby, DeMerit, McAnuff (Robinson, 86), Eustace, Williamson, Harley, Priskin (Francis, 89), Smith

Subs not used: Loach, Hoskins, Mariappa

Bookings: Williamson

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