A half-chance for the Saints as Ryan Bertrand gets to the deadball line, he dinks in a cross but it is headed clear by the visitors.

Moments later Sofiane Boufal gets into a similar position, but team-mate Oriol Romeu is not on his toes and can't reach the pull-back in time for a shot at goal.

Quarter of an hour gone. Shots on target: Zero. Shots off target: Zero.

Greece international Jose Holebas is making his 50th appearance for Watford today. Can he mark the occasion in style?

No danger from the Southampton corner by James Ward-Prowse. The visitors are well organised before Steven Davis loops a ball into the area which is easily dealt with by Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.

Watford seeing a lot of possession, but, at the moment, they haven't done anything with it. No shots on goal from either side just yet. Southampton have failed to score in three of their last four matches in all competitions this year but have just won a corner.

Since the start of the 2014-15 season, Southampton's Fraser Forster has kept 35 Premier League clean sheets, more than any other English goalkeeper.

However, he was still left out of the England squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia, with West Ham's Joe Hart, Stoke's Jack Butland, Burnley's Tom Heaton and Everton's Jordan Pickford picked ahead of him.

Image source, .

But the free-kick comes to nothing. It is aimed in the direction of Watford striker Andre Gray, but Southampton captain Steven Davis leads by example to head clear at the near post.

Early chance for Watford as Romeu clatters into Richarlison. The free-kick is close to the touchline but a chance for them to swing the ball into the danger zone.

Watford midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah was called up for the England squad for the matches against Malta and Slovakia but is in the wars early on as he needs treatment.

It is just in front of the manager's bench and Marco Silva is not too happy at Chalobah getting an elbow in the back from Oriol Romeu. But after some treatment, Chalobah is able to carry on.

Image source, Getty Images

No Van Dijk today of course for Southampton, although he did return to first-team training earlier this week following an 'ankle injury'.

But we are ready for action and Watford get us under way. Let's go.

Trevor Sinclair
Ex-England winger on BBC Final Score

I don't like a player trying to force a move. If you don't want to be there, you can go and hand in a transfer request in.

At some stage, Virgil van Dijk will have to be honest with himself and with the club. I would like to see him play again but this whole situation has not been good for his reputation.

John Roder
Match of the Day commentator

Southampton and Watford come into this fixture with identical starts of one win and two draws apiece.

Will Virgil van Dijk return to the Southampton defence or might fellow Dutch international Wesley Hoedt make his debut? However, it's in attack where Saints haven't convinced, failing to score in two of their three league matches.

In contrast, Richarlison is an exciting forward who I saw score in Watford's win at Bournemouth, and Peru international Andre Carrillo could make his first start, having previously played under Marco Silva at Sporting.

Both teams have kept two clean sheets so far, meaning a repeat of March's seven-goal thriller at Vicarage Road may not be on the cards - we can hope though!

Twitter: @johnrodercomm, external

Image source, Getty Images

Ryan Bertrand became the first Southampton player to score for England in more than three years when he netted in the 4-0 win over World Cup qualifying victory over Malta last week.

The full-back has scored six times in Saints colours in his career, but only found the back of the net once in 2017 - in a 4-2 loss at Chelsea in April.

Image source, Getty Images

Eighth, seventh, sixth, eighth.

Those are the positions Southampton have occupied at the end of the last four seasons, but where will they and Watford come this season?

We have asked you for your views on the BBC Sport site this week, with Southampton predicted for ninth and Watford 12th. I would guess that both sets of fans would probably be OK, but not overly excited, with that come May.

See the full final (predicted) standings with our feature.

Alistair Bruce-Ball
BBC Radio 5 live at St Mary's

Image source, .

Weather very much a mixed bag in Southampton today where the Boat Show is also on this weekend just to add to the traffic on the way to the ground.

Wesley Hoedt - pronounced 'hoot' I'm told - does make his Southampton debut and the mercurial Moroccan Sofiane Boufal gets a first Premier League start of the season.

Peruvian Andre Carrillo, on loan from Benfica, gets his first start for Watford replacing Nordin Amrabat who is now on loan to Leganes in La Liga.

Sure enough the heavens have opened at the St. Mary's Stadium and the players are now "warming up" in a torrential downpour.

Can you do any better than Lawro? Well, no point just aimlessly boasting, now is the time to prove it.

Take part in our Predictor competition right now.

Mark Lawrenson
Former Liverpool defender

We are seeing again what a good manager Marco Silva is - at this rate he might even last more than a season in charge of Watford - or at least get to Christmas anyway.

But I fancy Southampton here. They got back among the goals at St Mary's in their previous league game there, against West Ham, after a run of five games without scoring there at the end of last season.

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Each week, Lawro predicts the results of the Premier League fixtures. This week he is up against NFL Show analysts Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell, who predict a 2-1 win for the Saints.

Image source, .

You may well have seen the Premier League Show on Thursday, which had a look behind the scenes at Watford.

The picture below, posted on Instagram by Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, shows Dion Dublin interviewing Gomes, with Troy Deeney and Richarlison also around.

But it proved a costly experience for Richarlison, as he picked up a £100 fine from his team-mates after leaving his phone on during the interview, as you can see in this clip below (BBC Sport app users may need to click on the link).

If you missed the programme, it is still available for a further five days on BBC iPlayer.

So no Virgil van Dijk again today. When will Southampton fans see the want-away captain return to playing action? What do you make of your team's start to the season?

As always we want your thoughts on all the action so get involved with your thoughts by using the hashtag #bbcfootball.

Alistair Bruce-Ball
BBC Radio 5 live at St Mary's

Image source, .

Thousands of red and white flyers have been put out around the St Mary's Stadium to try and provide a rousing atmosphere for the Southampton players who've failed to score in eight of their last 10 games at home.

Mauricio Pellegrino says we won't see Virgil van Dijk back in the team just yet as he recovers from his ankle injury but there is a debut for fellow Dutch defender Wesley Hoedt.