Watford

Alistair Bruce-Ball, Chris Sutton and Statman Dave reunite for another week of fantasy football fun.

After a very controversial ruling in Sutton Death last week against Julien Laurens, more evidence is brought to the podcast from 5 Live journalists and listeners.

Ali, Chris and Statman also look ahead to the final few gameweeks of the fantasy football season and whether Dave could potentially catch Ali.

Plus, West Ham striker Michail Antonio joins the pod to play a game of Sutton Death.

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

Watford host Leicester on Sunday in their last home game in this season's Premier League.

The Hornets drew 0-0 with Everton in their last match, ending a six-game losing run.

With just two matches left in the Premier League for this Hornets squad, who should Roy Hodgson select as he says farewell to Vicarage Road?

Pick your Watford XI

Image source, Rex Features

We wanted to hear from you after Watford appointed former Forest Green Rovers boss Rob Edwards as their new manager from the end of the current season.

There is a mixture of caution and optimism among Hornets fans:

RG: Excellent appointment and just what we need. Now it is time for the club to stand by him and back him regardless of the first three results in the Championship. Time for a new approach.

Lawrence: This has disaster written all over it. It’s like when Leeds appointed Hockaday and we all know how that ended. No experience of even managing in League One let alone the Championship and yet the trigger-happy Pozzos choose this guy. They never learn - will be gone by November.

Tony: If there is no pressure for an immediate return to the Premier League and he is given three or four seasons to build a team around the young talent, then he could be just the man. Sadly, I'm not convinced the owners will give him the time. It's also disappointing to see how the club have handled the appointment, muddying our reputation further.

Patrick: Hope the owners let him manage. Of course he will make mistakes but let him have at least a full season. Very different appointment this time, let's hope it works out.

Matt: The last unproven British manager the Pozzos appointed was Billy McKinley and he lasted two games. From the outside it looks like a long-term option but unfortunately what the board say and how they act normally differs. Short of quality and with an ageing squad, if we are not in the top two by the end of October, I expect to see another change.

Nick: A clean slate, a fresh start. Just what is needed.

Have your say on Edwards' arrival here

Image source, Getty Images

• Watford have lost just one of their past six home Premier League games against Everton (W3 D2), with that defeat coming in February 2020 (2-3).

• Watford picked up their first point at Vicarage Road since a 4-1 victory against Manchester United in November, ending a run of 11 successive home Premier League defeats.

• Everton have lost just one of their past six Premier League games (W3 D2), picking up as many points in these six matches (11) as in their previous 22 games in the competition (W3 D2 L17).

• Everton have failed to score in 12 Premier League games this season, their highest such total in a league campaign since 2014-15 (also 12), while only Norwich (21) have failed to score in more top-flight games this term than Watford (18).

Image source, Reuters

Phil McNulty, BBC Sport chief football writer at Vicarage Road

Watford ended a run of 11 successive losses with the goalless draw against Everton but that was the only meagre consolation they can take from a grim game that followed their relegation.

Roy Hodgson has failed in his mission to keep Watford up so it is now down to new manager Rob Edwards to bring some stability and unity to a club that has simply become too chaotic for its own good.

This was a spirited performance from a team ravaged by injuries and already relegated after the decision to appoint Hodgson in succession to Claudio Ranieri did not work out.

Edwards, 39, will bring a more youthful approach following his success at Forest Green and Watford must crave a period of relatively calm rebuilding after the chaos of recent times.

It is impossible to guess how many of the current squad will figure in the first fixture next season but Edwards has a major renewal job on his hands.

Watford manager Roy Hodgson speaking to BBC Sport: "I think it was a sterling effort from the players.

"They played with an integrity and honesty that was really encouraging. Your confidence can never be high after being relegated.

"I was expecting a far worse performance than the one I saw tonight and I can only congratulate the players.

"It is an evening that many of these boys can be really proud of and maybe tomorrow they'll be asking why I have not selected them more often."

Watford manager Roy Hodgson has named seven changes after his side's relegation from the Premier League was confirmed by a 1-0 defeat by Crystal Palace at the weekend.

Jeremy Ngakia, Joao Pedro, Adam Masina, Ken Sema, Dan Gosling, Christian Kabasele and Samuel Kalu all start at Vicarage Road.

Craig Cathcart drops to the bench, while Kiko Femenia, Hassane Kamara, Tom Cleverley, Ismaila Sarr, Josh King and Emmanuel Dennis are not in the squad.

Teenagers Tiago Cukur, Adrian Blake, Jack Grieves are among the substitutes.

Watford XI: Foster, Masina, Kabasele, Samir, Sema, Ngakia, Gosling, Sissoko, Kayembe, Kalu, Pedro.

Subs: Bachmann, Etebo, Ekong, Cathcart, Sierralta, Morris, Çukur, Blake, Grieves.

Image source, BBC Sport

Everton boss Frank Lampard is forced into one change after his side secured a second successive league win at Leicester City on Sunday.

Defender Yerry Mina is ruled out because of a minor calf injury, and is replaced by Michael Keane.

Everton XI: Pickford, Iwobi, Coleman, Keane, Holgate, Mykolenko, Gordon, Doucoure, Delph, Gray, Richarlison.

Subs: Begovic, Kenny, Allan, Calvert-Lewin, Gomes, Davies, Branthwaite, Rondon, Alli.

Image source, BBC Sport

Mark Lawrenson takes on Tottenham fan Majestic and Arsenal supporter Joel Corry, in the latest round of Premier League predictions.

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

Everton are going for their third win on the spin.

If they get it, they would be very close to being sure of staying up - they are playing well anyway, and their application is completely different to how it was earlier in the campaign.

It's a good time for them to be playing Watford too.

We already know Hornets boss Roy Hodgson is leaving in the summer and it appears many of their players are thinking the same thing.

Watford have lost their past 11 home games and I'm not sure they will put up much of a fight.

Majestic's prediction: Funnily enough I fancy Watford here. Everton are on this great run but they have been so topsy-turvy and I think there is going to be another spanner in the works for them. 2-1

Joel's prediction: Everton need a win and I think they will get it - there will be some drama though. 2-3

Find out how Lawro, Majestic and Joel think the rest of the midweek Premier League fixtures will go

Image source, Getty Images

"A unifying appointment, something that suggests a longer-term plan rather than a remedy to the last thing that went wrong, is badly needed to disrupt the poisonous negativity that pervades the club," wrote Matt Rowson of BHaPPy blog, external on Tuesday (below).

Will the appointment of former Forest Green Rovers manager Rob Edwards achieve that aim?

Is he the man to take the Hornets straight back to the Premier League?

Have your say on Edwards' arrival here

Watford full-back Hassane Kamara is suspended while Joao Pedro will be assessed after missing the Crystal Palace defeat with a groin problem.

Samir, Tom Cleverley, Ismaila Sarr and Emmanuel Dennis were all injured at Palace and could be missing - as might Kiko Femenia and Joshua King through illness.

Everton's Yerry Mina is out because of a minor calf injury but Vitaliy Mykolenko has recovered from cramp.

Donny van de Beek and Ben Godfrey could return at the weekend.

Who makes your Watford XI?

Pick and share your Toffees XI

• Watford won the reverse fixture against Everton 5-2 in October and are looking to pick up consecutive league victories against the Toffees for the very first time.

• Everton are looking to win three consecutive Premier League games for the first time since March 2021, while they last won consecutive away league games in May the same year. Indeed, the Toffees’ 2-1 victory at Leicester ended a 15-game winless run on the road.

• The Hornets have lost their past 11 home league matches, the longest run of home defeats in top-flight history. In Football League history, the only side to lose more than 11 in a row at home was Rochdale between November 1931 and August 1932 in the Third Division North, a run of 14 home defeats.

• Frank Lampard has won all three of his Premier League managerial meetings with Roy Hodgson by an aggregate score of 9-2 – it’s his best 100% win rate as a manager in the top-flight.

Image source, Getty Images

Roy Hodgson says Watford have an "injury crisis", with as many as nine first-team players doubtful for Wednesday's game against Everton.

The Hornets' relegation was confirmed after Saturday's loss to Crystal Palace, but tomorrow's match could have a huge impact in the fight for Premier League survival.

Tom Cleverley is likely to miss out taking a blow to the ribs against Palace, as are Ismaila Sarr and Emmanuel Dennis after also picking up knocks against the Eagles.

Kiko Femenia and Joshua King are both suffering from illness, Nicolas Nkoulou has a groin issue and Shaq Forde has sustained an ankle injury in training.

Joao Pedro and Samir could feature, but will be assessed later today.

These are all in addition to absentees Imran Louza (knee), Hassane Kamara (suspended), Kwadwo Baah (international duty).

Image source, Getty Images

Matt Rowson, BHaPPy blog, external

Watford, as you may have heard mentioned, tend to change the man at the helm quite often. This is a strategy a bit like appointing Sam Allardyce…everyone’s kind of happy with it until the instant it stops working.

Herein lies the most fundamental objection among the criticisms of the club’s conduct…on relegation two years ago, CEO Scott Duxbury went on record promising that lessons had been learned, a line that’s been used to beat him around the head with since.

Quite what lessons should have been learned – beyond stop losing football matches – isn’t entirely clear. But the instability borne of such regular changes is perceived as a problem, much as there are few questioning the decisions to dispose of either the likeable but floundering Xisco Munoz and a seemingly scarcely interested Claudio Ranieri. Perhaps the lesson to be learned is: appoint better head coaches.

Gino Pozzo will reach 10 years of ownership of Watford this summer. Of the intervening seasons, six have been spent in the Premier League, two getting promoted and another, the first, a loss in the last minute of a play-off final.

Such success is all but unprecedented, but with it comes expectation and impatience. Such analytical criticism as there’s been among the hysteria has called for a non-reactive appointment to replace Roy Hodgson, whose dour pragmatism is another thing that’s only fine as long as it’s working.

Such a unifying appointment, something that suggests a longer-term plan rather than a remedy to the last thing that went wrong, is badly needed to disrupt the poisonous negativity that pervades the club.

A win at Vicarage Road before the end of the season wouldn’t hurt either.

Image source, EPA

Geoff Doyle, BBC Three Counties Radio

It was another miserable day on Saturday for Watford fans. Relegation was sealed with a limp performance at Crystal Palace. The strategy appeared to be avoid getting beaten four or five nil.

The Hornets wouldn't have scored if they were still playing now. They had one shot on target and lacked any attacking intent. But that wasn't the talking point.

At the end of the game Roy Hodgson didn't acknowledge the Watford fans, who were admittedly on the other side of the pitch and in the corner. As he walked back to the dressing room he was in front of his old Palace fans, who were, of course, going to serenade him and he appreciated the gesture, waving and smiling back.

When he was questioned about it afterwards Hodgson said the Watford fans were 'too far away' to acknowledge and didn't see what the fuss was about. But on the day relegation was confirmed the Hornets supporters were never going to like this and it's caused another storm.

For me, of much more concern afterwards was how Hodgson viewed the game rather than 'wavegate'. Hodgson was 'proud of the team' and felt it was 'a really good effort', one of the better away performances.

This is worrying with three games still to go. It seems an acceptance that he doesn't expect too much from his Watford team and an admittance that the strategy now is damage limitation. I would understand if it was Liverpool or Manchester City. But this was a below mid-table Palace team who had won nine games all season.

Hodgson has nothing to gain in these last three games, starting with a resurgent Everton on Wednesday. He's 74 years old, unloved by the Watford faithful and more worrying for me unwell.

He has had shingles and has been in a bad way. On Thursday he told us that he had a constant headache and didn't feel right.

Why is he putting himself under more pressure when there is no need to? Watford are down. These games mean nothing now. He says he won't walk away but I hope he reassesses for his own sake.

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts on where it went wrong for the Hornets this season after relegation was confirmed and who you want to see come in as manager.

Here are some of your thoughts:

Rob: Individually and collectively we just weren’t good enough. Huffed and puffed, but lacked the quality required to make a go if it. Sometimes you just have to accept that. Recruitment in the summer probably wasn’t good enough, and the team looked like what it realistically was, a team who hadn’t played together before.

Charlie: Dismal season, terrible managerial appointments and repeated mistakes. Whole club needs a clear out from top to bottom. Would love to see John Eustace as the next manager.

Nicholas: A shambolic season. Three managers, 11 home defeats in a row and a rudderless ship at the top. The Pozzo model no longer works and they are going to have to change their ways if we are to get back at the first attempt. The club is in a mess from top to bottom and a lot of fans have had enough of the same mistakes being repeated.

Rory: Our problem is long term planning. Constantly chopping and changing managers and coaches has led to disinterested players who are unmotivated - half of whom only arrived this year and might look to leave. They need to realise stability is necessary to build a squad and that for smaller teams, attitude and teamwork is more important than raw skill.

Ian: A tough season with no stability and a lack of leadership. We do deserve to be relegated and time for a good clear out. As managers go I believe we should invest in past players so I choose Sean Dyche. A true Hornet with the strength and leadership we need.

Let us know your thoughts here