Sheffield United face stern test at Vicarage Road

Despite being under a new manager in Quique Sánchez Flores, Watford have struggled picking up one point in his three games as manager. Sheffield United will be aiming to take advantage of this as they aim to maintain in the Premier League further than this campaign.

When the two last played against each other back in 2011, both sides were in the Championship the Hornets were the side who cruised to the victory at Vicarage Road, though beating the Blades 3-0 with the away side having two players sent off by the 34th minute.

Watford have made a horrific start to their 2019/20 season, which has seen Javi Gracia pay with his job after four league games. Since new boss Sánchez Flores has taken over he has already achieved the same amount of points drawing 2-2 with London rivals Arsenal.

However, since that match, they have been beaten by Wolves (2-0) and been torn apart by Manchester City with the current Premier League champions beating them 8-0. The only silver lining in this start to the season for Watford is that they beat Swansea 2-1 in the Carabao Cup.

Sheffield United have made a good start after being one of the sides who got promoted from the Championship, they sit 12th in the league and up until recently they’d been doing really well, with a blunder against Liverpool costing them as they lost 1-0 at home to the current table toppers.

The same result has come against League One side Sunderland in the Carabao Cup and again to Southampton so a break away to Watford could be welcomed considering the last time they were away from Brammall Lane they won 2-0 at Goodison Park beating Everton.

What the managers are saying:

Watford boss Sánchez Flores has called his next upcoming matches like finals:

“We are no longer preparing matches; we are preparing finals, It is like this, but I am really happy with the response of the players at the training ground.

“It is two different things, we are training with them and the tactics are one thing, their mental health is another thing. We need to prepare about the brain, prepare to train this muscle because it’s the main muscle right now.”

Chris Wilder spoke about the blades expectations for this season:

“We’ve always raised the bar. We don’t want to just finish fourth from the bottom, I know the players better than anybody. I know who to push and who not to.

“We’re not settling for being ‘okay’. We want to raise the bar and keep pushing individually, that’s been the theme running through. There’s clarity in that. They know I’m tough with them but they accept it.”

Head to Head

Watford Win- 13

Draws- 11

Sheffield United Win- 19

Team News

Will Hughes will have to be assessed for the home side, though both Isaac Success and Troy Deeney will be missing when Sheffield United come to town.

The only player that has an injury concern for the Blades is David McGoldrick who could recover in time to play his part in his six Premier League match of the season.