Arsenal face Watford at Vicarage Road with the Gunners looking to get a win over a struggling Watford side.
Arsenal who currently sit in seventh with a game in head travel to 20th Watford in what looks to be a routine three points on the road for the Gunners. In their last game, Watford gained their first point of the season with a draw against Newcastle with Arsenal also drawing their game in a North London derby against Spurs with the game ending in a 2-2 scoreline.
Team news
Arsenal are likely to be without frontman Alexandre Lacazette who has an ongoing ankle injury which has ruled him out until October. Rob Holding, Dinos Mavropanos, Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney are all back in full training, but are still unlikely to return until later this month.
Watford will be without club captain Troy Deeney and defender Craig Cathcart who are both injured.
Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores told the media that he is not a fan of records as he will want to beat compatriot Emery yet again without looking at the stats.
“When you are competing against a manager, this is not our goal, because we are competing against teams,” said Sánchez Flores. “If you have better players than the other coach, usually you are going to win more.”
“I know Unai, he is a very clever guy, he is always thinking about how he can take advantage in different situations, he is very good in set-pieces, he is always very hard in the work, very constant. We know each other so of course we will try to surprise each other.”
Arsenal manager Unai Emery spoke about Watford’s appointment of Quique Sanchez Flores and there relationship:
“They finished with Javi Gracia, they did a very great season last year and now they signed a very great coach also with Quique Sanchez Flores.
“Yes, we played against him and his teams are very organised teams. He has a good experience here also in England, in the Premier League, with adapting with Watford and I respect him a lot.
“I really respect every coach. I think now with Quique Sanchez Flores, they are going to continue working well like they were doing with Javi Gracia. We are going to respect them and prepare for the match thinking of us in the beginning and after, respecting them with their characteristics.
“After, some things can change. Watford are going to be the same in their great spirit like a team and also they are going to push a lot in Watford with their supporters. They have very good players.”
Head-to-head
In the past five fixtures between the two clubs, Arsenal have won three and Watford have won twice.
Expected line-ups
Watford XI- Foster; Janmaat, Dawson, Kabasele, Femenia; Cleverley, Doucoure, Pererya, Hughes; Deulofeu, Gray.
Arsenal XI– Leno; Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Luiz, Kolasinac; Torreira, Ceballos, Xhaka; Pepe, Aubameyang, Nelson.