Bristol City v Watford Preview

These are two sides who both made the play offs last season and that sort of finish was also expected through this campaign. As it turns out, that’s simply not the case, with Watford involved in something of a relegation battle while City find themselves in mid table. While current positions indicate that Bristol City should be clear favorites for this one, Watford have just announced that Brendan Rodgers will become their new manager so that is an added incentive for the Hornets players.

Despite starting the season well, Bristol City have been poor in recent weeks and now sit in 11th place – three points behind the top six. However, with so many teams up there, it will take quite some run to break into the play off positions again and Gary Johnson needs to regroup his players and get them performing again. They traveled to Crystal Palace on Saturday and while many thought they had an excellent chance of a result considering Palace’s position, they rolled over and were easily beaten 4-2. Having only drawn against struggling Nottingham Forest and also being on the end of a thrashing to Reading in recent weeks, it’s clear times are hard at Ashton Gate and things need to improve if they want to keep their play off dream alive.

Watford announced that Chelsea reserve team coach Brendan Rodgers would be taking over this week, although caretaker boss Malky Mackay will remain in charge for this fixture. The appointment of Rodgers definitely seems a shrewd one though, with the former Reading man seemingly having all of the qualifications on paper and being part of an exquisite setup at Stanford Bridge. However, if the Hornets play like they did against QPR on Saturday, they don’t need much more guidance. The Vicarage Road outfit absolutely romped past Rangers and that meant that they climbed their way out of the bottom three. Following a bad start to the season, you’d have to assume that Rodgers has been charged with the mission of just steadying the ship this season before pushing for a high finish in the next campaign.

As for team news, Gary Johnson could ring the changes following their dismal 4-2 defeat to Palace at the weekend. Nicky Maynard, Louis Carey and Jamie McAllister are all pushing for recalls but Johnson doesn’t have any fresh injury concerns. As for Watford, Malky Mackay will probably not make any changes to the side that thrashed QPR on Saturday. John Eustace has completed his suspension, but will struggle to force his way back in following the good performance by Mackay’s men.

Watford beat promotion hopefuls QPR comfortably in their last fixture and with Brendan Rodgers likely to be in attendance, they should put on another good display on here. Bristol City haven’t been playing well of late and we can see Watford capitalizing – 2-0 Hornets.