Notebook – Watford v Spurs

We kick start the new year with a Premier League trip to Watford this afternoon (3pm kick-off).

Ahead of our 2022 opener, here’s a look at the game’s key points of note…

1 - New Year’s Day

Usually, our New Year’s Day fixture is one we look forward to, however, our long-running bright run on the maiden day of the year was ended last time out. Having headed into our 1 January, 2020, trip to Southampton with six New Year’s Day wins on the trot under our belt, that fine spell then came to a halt at St Mary’s with a 1-0 defeat. Our prior run of victories on New Year’s Day, however, does include some famous Spurs wins as well as a victory over Watford…

The Hornets’ record in their first league games of a calendar year, meanwhile, is quite the opposite. In the last decade, Watford have lost eight of their opening games of a new year, winning one and drawing the other. However, their sole win in that period did come in their last Premier League campaign as they defeated Wolves 2-1 in 2020.

2 - A rare Saturday, 3pm, kick-off

It is a very long time since we stepped out in the Premier League on a Saturday at 3pm. Despite it being traditional time and date for a league fixture in English football, incredibly, we haven’t played a top-flight game at such a time for two whole calendar years (2020 and 2021). Our last such fixture came on 7 December, 2019, as we put five past Burnley without reply at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the game being best remembered for Heung-Min Son’s incredible 70-yard solo effort which went on to win the 2020 Puskas Award. For our last away fixture in the competition that kicked-off at 3pm on a Saturday, you will have to go back nine months earlier to March, 2019. and a 2-1 defeat to Southampton.

3 - The Italian Job

The Premier League’s two incumbent Italian managers will face off against each other on Saturday. Antonio Conte will once again lead us and, once more, he will face off against Watford boss Claudio Ranieri. So far in his managerial career, Antonio has taken on Ranieri nine times. They first met in November, 2009, and Ranieri came out on top, leading his Roma side to a 2-1 win over Conte’s Atalanta. In the eight matches since though, our Head Coach has won all but one of their meetings, including three times in England with Antonio’s Chelsea overcoming Ranieri’s Leicester 3-0 home and away in the Premier League while also earning a 4-2 win in the third round of the Carabao Cup (all in the 2016/17 season).

4 - Our last meeting

When the two sides met in this season’s reverse fixture back in August, the state of play was much different for both sides. We headed into the meeting with Nuno Espirito Santo in charge and looking to continue our perfect start to the season having beaten Manchester City and Wolves in our opening two league games (both 1-0). Watford, meanwhile, with Xisco in charge on their return to the Premier League following a season in the Championship, were looking to bounce back to winning ways having fallen 2-0 to Brighton after an opening day victory over Aston Villa.

Come full-time at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we’d edged the Hornets 1-0 thanks to a Heung-Min Son free-kick. The narrow victory saw us continue our 100 per cent record at the start of the league campaign, while our opponents failed to score in their second successive game, something they went on to extend to three with a 2-0 defeat to Wolves a fortnight later.

5 - The Hornets’ sting

While we have an imperious record over Watford in the league, it hasn’t always been plain sailing for us when we’ve headed to Vicarage Road. Having lost just one of our last 17 league meetings with the Hornets since the end of the 1986/87 season, it is a fixture we clearly enjoy. However, in our last three visits to Watford’s home, we have failed to win, drawing twice and losing once. And, while that may be our only defeat to date against them in the Premier League, we have only picked up three points at Vicarage Road twice in the competition (W2 D4 L1).

Highlights of our last visit to Vicarage Road - Watford 0-0 Spurs - 18 January, 2020

6 - Watford’s winter difficulties

Despite bright early moments on their return to the Premier League, the winter months have proven tough for Watford. Picking up seven points from as many games (one point-per-game) before opting to replace manager Xisco with Claudio Ranieri in October, the Hornets have since accumulated six points from their following 10 games (0.6 points-per-game). And, since defeating Manchester United 4-1 in late November, they have lost each of their last five games.

Despite their struggles under Claudio Ranieri, however, it is notable that there is now a potency about their attack. Having failed to score in 58 per cent of their games under Xisco, they have now scored in 70 per cent of their games under the Italian, including at least once in each of the last six outings on the bounce.

7 - Dennis the Menace

The increase in Watford’s potency can largely be attributed to their number 25, Emmanuel Dennis, who is enjoying a fine debut campaign in the Premier League. The forward, who arrived in Hertfordshire this summer from Club Brugge, already has eight goals to his name in the league while he has also provided five assists – only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been involved in more goals (24 – 15 scored, nine assisted) than the Nigerian (13). He is averaging a goal contribution every 97 minutes in the competition.

8 - Defensive woes

While their attacking guile has grown, unfortunately, the same cannot be said for their defence. After 17 Premier League games so far this term, Watford are the only side in the Premier League not to keep a clean sheet. They have now conceded in each of their last 27 games in the league, having also failed to keep a clean sheet in their final 10 games of the 2019/20 campaign. It is the longest run without a shutout in the competition since Burnley’s run of 29 games between November, 2009, and August, 2014 (the Clarets were a Championship side between 2010 and 2014).

9 - Seeing red

A strange phenomena of Antonio Conte’s tenure so far has been our opponents being shown red cards. In 10 games under the Italian so far, six red cards have been brandished against our opposition, including one in each of our last three Premier League games. Only once in the competition’s history has a team seen their opposition see red in four consecutive games – that was Arsenal in August/September 2001.

10 - Sonny and Kane

Heung-Min Son is our leading goalscorer in the Premier League this campaign with eight goals to his name – and he has a fine record against Watford. In 10 Premier League appearances against the Hornets, our number seven has been involved in seven goals (six scored, one assisted) while, in his last six starts against them in the competition, he has five goals and one assist.

Harry Kane, meanwhile, has quite the record on New Year’s Day. No player in the history of the Premier League has scored more goals on 1 January than Harry (5). He is also just one off the day’s assist record which is currently held by Cesc Fabregas (4). He goes into the game aiming to score in four league games on the bounce for the first time in three years – last doing so between December, 2018, and January, 2019.