Preview
Watford vs Crystal Palace Betting Tips
Monday, 26/12/2016
Vicarage Road
Over 2.5 goals to be scored at 1/1 odds
Sam Allardyce’s first assignment as the new Crystal Palace manager is a Boxing Day test at Vicarage Road when the Eagles face an off-color Watford in Monday’s midday Premier League action. The 3-0 win over Southampton temporarily gave Alan Pardew some breathing space but he failed to cling on to his job as his side followed up with a run of three winless fixtures. The Englishman was relieved of his duties on Thursday; a scenario that seemed inevitable for quite some time now. Sam Allardyce was declared as the replacement for Pardew just a day after his dismissal, making the long-heard rumors and whisperings come true.
The Hornets have won only once in their last five matches, setting off alarm bells all over Vicarage Road. Watford slipped to 12th in the standings when they suffered a 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light last weekend. Patrick van Aanholt opened the scoring in the 49th minute for Sunderland, which ultimately turned out to be the winner. Daniel Defoe flighted in a low cross inside the box, which was perfectly nodded in by van Aanholt. Watford pressed back to counterbalance but Sunderland shot-stopper Jordan Pickford successfully denied two low on target efforts from Daryl Janmaat and Odion Ighalo.
Over 2.5 goals to be scored at 1/1 odds
RECENT FORM
- Crystal Palace(17th in the league, last 5 matches in all competitions)
0-1(Home, Chelsea)1-2(Home, Man United)3-3(Away, Hull)3-0(Home, Southampton)4-5(Away, Swansea)
- Watford(12th in the league, last 5 matches in all competitions)
0-1(Away, Sunderland)0-2(Away, Man City)3-2(Home, Everton)1-3(Away, West Brom)0-1(Home, Stoke)
HEAD TO HEAD
Total Played | Palace wins | Watford wins | Draws |
113 | 47 | 41 | 25 |
LAST MEETING
24 April, 2016
Wembley Stadium
FA Cup
Crystal Palace 2-Watford 1
INTERESTING FACTS
- Watford last 20 home games against teams below them-11 wins, 7 draws, 2 losses
- Crystal Palace last 20 away games against teams above them-4 wins, 6 draws, 10 losses
- Watford lost two of their three meetings against Crystal Palace last season, including a 0-1 defeat at Vicarage Road in the league.
- Palace have played Watford twice before on Boxing Day in their history, winning 2-0 in 1949 but losing by the same scoreline in 1952.
- Crystal Palace have won twice in seven previous Premier League games on Boxing Day – versus Wimbledon in 1992 and Aston Villa in 2013 (D3 L2).
- The Hornets haven’t won a top-flight league game on Boxing Day since 1986, where they beat rivals Luton Town 2-0.
- Troy Deeney scored all three of Watford’s competitive goals against Crystal Palace last season.
- Deeney is currently on a run of 10 appearances without a goal for Watford. He hasn’t gone 11 successive apps without a goal (in all comps) for the Hornets since October 2011.
- Crystal Palace have won only six league games in 2016 – this is their joint-lowest tally of league wins in a single calendar year (in the Football League system), level with 1962 and 1973.
- The Eagles have the lowest points per game average of any Premier League or Football League side in 2016 (0.72).
Over 2.5 goals to be scored at 1/1 odds