Watford

Watford manager Roy Hodgson: "The players have worked hard and I've been pleased with their application in training. It will be a real test for the players and a real eye-opener for us at the same time.

"We haven't made vast changes. Emmanuel Dennis got himself sent off and is a miss. Ismaila Sarr has been away on international duty. We have brought with us the ones we've got and we've tried to prepare them in a way we think will be capable of causing Burnley problems but it will be interesting for me to see how they get on.

"When you are at the bottom of the table every point is gold dust. It's foolish to talk about must-wins as it's that right the way through now. The job is to try and keep us up and find us a team that will help us do that."

As BBC Sport's Simon Stone alluded to earlier, the weather is gross in Burnley. The corner flag is currently struggling to stay alive as the players prepare to come out for the warm-ups.

It's wet, it's windy, it's dark and it's gloomy. Sean Dyche will be licking his lips.

Image source, Getty Images

It's a huge game for Watford.

Roy Hodgson will take charge of his first match as head coach after replacing the sacked Claudio Ranieri.

His sole task is to keep them up.

They are second bottom at the moment and two points from safety. Burnley are just below them, so this is very much a "six-pointer".

Burnley are unbeaten in four Premier League home fixtures but have won just once in 17 league games at Turf Moor.

They have not scored a league goal at home since the 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace on 20 November.

Sean Dyche's side have conceded 27 Premier League goals - the fewest of any side in the bottom half - but only Norwich (13) have scored fewer than the Clarets' 16 goals.

And they have recorded just nine shots in total in their last six Premier League games combined.

Meanwhile, Watford have taken just one point from their last 24 available, conceding 20 goals in total.

They have lost seven of their past eight top-flight fixtures and are winless since beating Manchester United in November.

Watford have lost 14 of their 20 Premier League matches this season.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport at Turf Moor

Burnley have cut ticket prices to £10 for this fixture.

From this, £2 will be donated to Tommy's, a charity that helps thousands of families affected by miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth.

That is of particular interest to Burnley skipper Ben Mee, who has just celebrated a decade at Turf Moor, whose daughter was born prematurely in June 2020.

This is Burnley's 19th league fixture of 2021-22.

It is the first time a team has reached the halfway stage of a Premier League season as late as February.

Image source, Gif

January signing Wout Weghorst makes his full debut for Burnley, who make just two changes from the draw at Arsenal.

Maxwel Cornet and Dale Stephens also come in. Josh Brownhill, Jay Rodriguez and Matej Vydra drop out.

Burnley XI: Pope, Pieters, Tarkowski, Mee, Roberts; McNeil, Stephens, Westwood, Lennon; Cornet, Weghorst.

Subs: Hennessey, Norris, Lowton, Cork, Rodriguez, Collins, Bardsley, Long, Thomas

Image source, BBC Sport

Roy Hodgson has made four changes for his Watford bow after the defeat to Norwich.

Ben Foster, Ken Sema, Craig Cathcart and Jurej Kucka replace Daniel Bachmann, Christian Kabasele, Emmanuel Dennis, and Tom Cleverley.

Watford XI: Foster; Sema, Kamara, Cathcart, Femenia; Samir, Sissoko, Kucka, Kayembe; King, Joao Pedro

Subs: Bachmann, Ngakia, Ekong, Louza, Cleverley, Mesina, Fletcher, Kabasele, Hernandez

Image source, BBC Sport

New signing Wout Weghorst makes his Burnley debut!

Full team news to follow.

Team news coming up very shortly...

Will Wout Weghorst make his Burnley debut? Watford trio William Troost-Ekong, Adam Masina and Imran Louza have returned from the Africa Cup of Nations so could feature.

Emmanuel Dennis is suspended.

They say the table never lies but it may not be a true reflection of Burnley's position at the bottom, given they have so many games in hand.

That's down to a number of postponements so it means they have four games to catch up Norwich and climb out of the relegation zone.

The nearest team to them in the drop zone - today's opponents Watford - are just two points ahead, and Burnley have two games in hand on them.

But points are points. Until Burnley get them, they are bottom.

Image source, BBC Sport

If you want to keep up with the FA Cup, just head over here.

While Stoney is freezing, I've just got a hot chocolate and a subway.

At least they've got decent Bovril at Burnley...

Simon Stone
BBC Sport at Turf Moor

I had literally just arrived at Turf Moor on Wednesday, 15 December when the first meeting between these teams was postponed after members of the visitors' camp returned positive COVID-19 tests.

They had another go on 18 January but that was called off when the Burnley camp were hit by the virus.

This evening should be OK - apart from the grim Lancashire weather.

Image source, BBC Sport

We have waited a LONG time for this game.

It has been postponed twice - first for Covid cases in Watford's camp, before the same in the Burnley squad.

While all the FA Cup drama continues to take place, we have a HUGE Premier League game coming up in just over an hour.

The bottom two go head-to-head in search of three crucial points and it's Roy Hodgson's first game in charge of Watford.

Tasty.

Image source, Getty Images