Kick-off: 1500, 26/12/2019
Stadium: Bramall Lane
TV: Amazon Prime
Sheffield United have a great chance to continue their fairytale campaign by securing a fourth straight Premier League success when entertaining Watford.
The Hornets are coming off a win over Manchester United but that was only their second victory of the season and they remain bottom of the table.
Punters can get 17/20 for the Blades to prevail and that has to be seen as a percentage pick for our first Sheff Utd vs Watford prediction.
A Look At Sheffield United’s Betting Odds
United climbed up to fifth place after following up wins over fellow promoted teams Norwich and Aston Villa with a 1-0 triumph at Brighton.
Record signing Oli McBurnie has been used sparingly since signing for £20million from Swansea but grabbed the crucial goal at Amex Stadium.
The Blades had two other scores ruled out by VAR, while David McGoldrick hit the side-netting after rounding the Albion keeper.
“It has been a great start to the season,” said right-back George Baldock. “We’ve exceeded quite a few expectations.
“We’ve got the attitude of: ‘Why not?’ Why can’t we go there and give it our all? We go into every game full of confidence and see where it takes us.
“There’s a real togetherness. It’s a really tight-knit squad and collective effort.
“With the gaffer, with this set of lads, with the fans behind us, who knows where it can take us?”
This is expected to be a low-scoring affair, though, as 11 of United’s last 14 Premier League games have featured fewer than three goals, while the same applies to nine of Watford’s past 12 fixtures.
Looking at the Sheff Utd vs Watford odds, we’re taking 14/5 for a home win and under 2.5 goals.
Last Sheff Utd line-up: Henderson, Baldock, Stevens, O’Connell, Basham, Egan, Lundstram, Freeman, Norwood, McBurnie, McGoldrick.
A Look At Watford’s Betting Odds
Watford will hope that the 2-0 defeat of the Red Devils can prove a turning point in their season, but it isn’t hard to pick holes in that form.
United have been poor away on a number of occasions, while they gifted the Hornets their goals through a David De Gea howler from Ismaila Sarr’s effort and a rash Aaron Wan-Bissaka challenge for Troy Deeney’s penalty.
To be fair, Watford did also show some encouraging signs in defeat at Liverpool and new head coach Nigel Pearson will be up for this game, as he made 180 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday.
“We play Sheffield United and they are a really good team,” said Pearson. “They have a fantastic work ethic and they play a very expansive brand of football.
“They will cause most teams problems just because of their commitment to how they play, so we have to deal with that.
“But we also have to make sure we cause them problems and we have players in our squad who are capable, as we proved against Liverpool and by beating Man United.
“We need to concentrate on ourselves and make sure we are physically and mentally right for each game. That is the key message.”
Watford will need to be wary of a strong finish from their hosts, though, as the Blades have scored the last goal in over 70% of their matches, while the Hornets have done so just 26.7% of the time.
That could make 18/5 for Draw HT/Sheff Utd FT worth adding to our Sheff Utd vs Watford betting tips.
Last Watford line-up: Foster, Mariappa, Cathcart, Kiko, Kabasele, Doucoure, Hughes, Capoue, Deulofeu, Deeney, Sarr.
Additional stats
Last result:
Brighton 0-1 SHEFF UTD – Oli McBurnie
WATFORD 2-0 Man Utd – Ismaila Sarr, Troy Deeney (pen)
Head-to-head: Watford 0-0 Sheff Utd
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