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LAST TIME OUT

BLACKBURN ROVERS 1 PRESTON NORTH END 2



WATFORD 6 BRISTOL CITY 0


FORM GUIDE
PNE 11 WATFORD 12

WATFORD NEWBIES

Sierralta, Troost-Ekong adn Zinckernagel
They seem to a lot of business with Udinese for some reason can't figure out why.

HEAD TO HEAD

Not regular visitors to Deepdale first played 25/8/1969 which North End won 3-0, the Hornets first victory and only league victory at Deepdale was 21/12/1979 a date that I certainly do remember my father died that day.
Last visit was in the league 7/5/2011 when Tango Brown was manager last game before we got relegated we played basically our youth team that day and won 3-1

MACS VIEW

Always nice to beat the Venky boys but that is now history and we take on a Watford side who demolished those hapless statue removers from Bristol 6-0 on Saturday
They are as tight as a Monkey's chuff away from home, don't score many but are hard to break down and under whichever manager it is this week will provide extremely tough opposition.
Always rated Will Hughes and is was interesting to see that when his heavily deflected shot went in on Saturday he was mobbed by his team mates oviously a popular figure within the squad.
Our home record needs sorting suspect this will be like a normal home game we'll get caught on the break and if Deeney gets to take a penalty it will be going down the middle at the rate of knots.
Sadly the weather has improved much milder won't be Elton John weather, "It's a little bit chilly"
7 pm boot off on the red button on Sky, good news is have had my Astra Zenica jab so will be getting great 5G reception on this one

It’s back to Deepdale for the Lilywhites, with three home games in the next 11 days, starting with Xisco Munoz’s Watford arriving in PR1 on Tuesday night, for a 7pm kick-off.

It is the 36th league meeting between the two sides, with North End leading the head-to-head with 14 wins to the Hornets’ ten, their last win in Preston coming 15 games ago in December 1979.

However, this will be a very tough test for Alex Neil’s men, against a side who currently sit fourth and come into the game on the back of a 6-0 home thrashing of Bristol City at the weekend.

For the home side though, they too were boosted by the last result, with a tremendous derby day victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, with Liam Lindsay getting the winner with his first goal for the club, after Greg Cunningham’s superb opener on his first start since making the return to PNE.

Team News
Manager Alex Neil has no new injury concerns ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Watford and he will hope to have further options available to him, giving Anthony Gordon and Sean Maguire, who both missed the win at Ewood Park, as long as possible to make the squad.

Just long-term casualties, Declan Rudd, Patrick Bauer and Louis Moult are definitely out of the equation for selection against the Hornets.

For Saturday’s convincing win over Dean Holden’s Robins, Tuesday’s visitors switched to a 4-3-3 formation, with skipper Troy Deeney on the bench, as he was carrying a slight knock, but with such a big success, Xisco Munoz is not likely to make too many changes to a winning formula.

Match Officials
It’s Tony Harrington’s fourth game in charge of PNE this season on Tuesday night and his third trip to Deepdale – the last game he officiated being the win at Birmingham City last month.

Despite the quartet of games in 2020/21, he took charge of just one game last season, the home game with Gary Rowett’s Millwall at Deepdale, but in 2018/19 he took charge of three PNE games, the March trip to Reading, the 2-0 cup win at Leeds United back in August 2018 and the home game against West Bromwich Albion that autumn.

Tony has been a familiar face over recent seasons. In 2017/18 he visited Deepdale twice,
the Lilywhites’ opening day 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in Alex Neil’s first competitive game in charge of the club, and our Bank Holiday Monday clash with Derby County.

The previous season he also took charge of another two North End games, the 1-1 draw away at Nottingham Forest and the thrilling 4-2 win over Brentford at Deepdale.

The match official, who is now in his tenth year on the EFL list, has also been to PR1 on a number of previous occasions in the past, including the 2014/15 penalty win against Oldham Athletic in the JPT and the club’s last two home league games against Notts County, including a 2-0 win over the Magpies at Deepdale in February 2014.

This will be the Cleveland referee’s 24 game of the season and so far he had issued 62 cautions and two red cards, including Joe Rafferty in PNE’s clash with Blackburn Rovers and astonishingly it will be his first Watford game of the season.

He will be joined by assistants Steven Meredith and Wade Smith, whilst the fourth official is Simon Mather.

0-0 HT

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Penalty to them 1 down

And that was the only goal of the match

Promotion-chasing Watford kept up their momentum with a narrow victory at Preston North End in the Championship.

Brazilian forward Joao Pedro netted the only goal from the penalty spot six minutes into the second half after he was tripped by Tom Barkhuizen.

Liam Lindsay headed a corner over the bar and dragged a shot wide as the Lilywhites went looking for an equaliser, but the hosts failed to trouble visiting keeper Daniel Bachmann.

The win lifts Xisco Munoz's side up to third in the table, three points behind second-placed Brentford.

However, the Bees and fourth-placed Swansea City, who are one point below the Hornets and have three games in hand on the Vicarage Road side, are both in action on Wednesday evening.

Watford won 6-0 against Bristol City on Saturday but their trip to Deepdale proved to be a tight affair which was settled by the game's only effort on target.

In a first half of few chances, Preston striker Ched Evans shot over the bar from close range and sent another effort wide from a narrow angle inside the opening 20 minutes.

With Hornets talisman Troy Deeney out for a short spell to recover from a couple of niggling injuries, penalty duties fell to Pedro early in the second half after referee Tony Harrington pointed to the spot.

The 19-year-old shot to the left hand side of the goal to score his seventh of the season, despite Preston keeper Daniel Iversen diving the right way.

It was just Watford's eighth goal in 15 away league games this season and was enough to give them their fourth victory on the road.

Alex Neil's Preston have now lost three of their past four and remain seven points off the play-offs, having suffered defeat against Watford at home for the first time since 1979.

Reaction - 'We played with passion'
Preston first-team coach Frankie McAvoy:

"We're a bit disappointed we've come away with nothing from the game. I thought it was a really good, tight affair.

"The penalty kick is the defining factor in the game. I thought we had the best couple of chances in the first half.

"I'm not really sure that the goalkeepers got worked by either side.

"I don't think there was much, but there were clear chances and on another day you get one that might sneak in."

Watford boss Xisco Munoz:

"I think it was a good performance for us because we showed the very good team spirit that we already have and we played with passion.

"We had control of the game in the first half and in the second half we lost the momentum at times.

"But everyone played together and we worked very hard.

"This is our club, this is our style, this is our challenge and we need to follow this game