Manchester City v Watford Saturday 23rd April 2022 - 15:00 BST - Premier League Match Preview and MDT | Vital Football

Manchester City v Watford Saturday 23rd April 2022 - 15:00 BST - Premier League Match Preview and MDT

Buzz Lightyear

Buzz Lightyear

Alert Team
'When they don't score, they hardly ever win' Michael Owen
Coming next to the Etihad we have Watford teetering on the brink of the trapdoor and desperate for points but draws are no good, they do need wins, Pep Guardiola needs the points for the complete opposite, City need the points to stay on top of the pile and draws are not good.
Pep will also have an eye on Tuesday when Real Madrid come to Town and City need to be on top form for the rest of the season.
Brighton who defended brilliantly if not luckily in the first half to a below par City, when Lady Luck shone on the Citizens with a couple of deflections and a Third by Bernardo Silva which was pure skill from Olex to Kevin to Bernie to back of the net.
City should not underestimate their opponents, but hopefully and not disrespectfully a shed load of goals for City would go down well with the fans.
The Match Day Centre over on the Official site mancity.com will have a couple of former players to give their views on proceedings, whilst Alistair Mann will provide commentary from City+ for the match, which is not being televised live.
City have confirmed their top four status this season and will be in next season's Champions League.

City Team News
A couple of new faces were added to the treatment table on Wednesday night and makes them doubtful for Saturdays game, John Stones with a tight muscle and Nathan Ake with a twisted ankle, join Kyle walker who also twisted his ankle, whilst Cole Palmer is unlikely to feature just yet for the Blues.

City Line-up?
Ederson
Cancelo Dias Laporte Zinchenko
Fernandinho, Gundogan De Bruyne
Mahrez Grealish Sterling

Match Officials

OIP.jpgReferee: Kevin Friend.
Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Beck.
Fourth official: Jonathan Moss.
VAR: Lee Mason. Assistant VAR: Darren Cann.

Next
Champions League Tuesday 26th April 22 20:00
City v Real Madrid
 
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Unless we score an early goal I expect another massively frustrating game. In fact based on Hodgson’s comments reported about them needing “to play in a pragmatic fashion” (aka Park the Bus) I think we will need to score twice for their game plan to change. At 1-0 they will still hang their hopes on a set piece, a counter attack, a defensive mistake or a thunder bastard like Townsend scored previously.
 
“The Premier League leaders have played seven times already this month, with Saturday’s fixture against Watford our fifth game in 13 days.”

My first thought when I read this? Klipperty would be moaning to the highest heavens :blah:
 
Pep Guardiola will make a late decision on whether Nathan Ake, John Stones and Kyle Walker will be involved against Watford on Saturday.
Walker has missed City’s last two games with an injury he suffered in the second leg of our Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid, but Guardiola says his condition is improving.
Ake and Stones were both withdrawn early against Brighton on Wednesday. The Dutchman came off with what appeared to be a leg problem, whilst his defensive partner reported muscle tightness.
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Guardiola admitted both were minor concerns, but says the centre-back duo will be assessed alongside Walker ahead of the Hornets’ visit to the Etihad Stadium.
“He is getting better,” revealed the boss when asked about his right-back.
“We will see tomorrow.
“[John had] a niggle. Little problems, like Nathan. Today we make an assessment, tomorrow we decide.”
https://www.mancity.com/news/mens/man-city-watford-premier-league-injury-news-63786217
 
Brown intrigued by Fernandinho and Rodrig inclusion
Pep Guardiola's decision to field two holding midfielders in the form of Fernandinho and Rodrigo is the main talking point after seeing those teams.
Will they both play in the usual anchorman role or will one adopt a more advanced position?
Here's what our Matchday Live guests think:
Michael Brown: "You’ve got look at it and see Fernandinho coming in, playing with two holding midfielders. From there on there’s always a few tweaks that can be made. It’s great to see Ruben Dias back. I’m intrigued to see how the two holding players will work out."
Paul Dickov: "I can’t see them both sitting at the same time. I think one of them will push forward a bit more than the other. I’m pretty sure we’ll go all out attack again."
 
Guardiola on Watford
"Roy Hodgson is an incredibly experienced manager, when at Crystal Palace we always struggled to break them down and do good games.
“Maybe (except for) three, four or five teams in the middle of the table, everyone is playing for some targets, to win the Premier League, qualify for the Champions League or fight relegation, every game is important.
“Watford, when you analyse, (they have) quality and physicality in the middle and up front. But at the same time, we have to be ourselves and try to get another three points.”
 
Hodgson: Watford 'enormously wary' of City
The visitors are coming with a clear, defensive game plan.
“What we’re going to do is try and make ourselves unpopular. If we want to make ourselves popular with Pep, the Man City crowd and everyone else, all we do is go hell for leather and try to match them at their game, which is a recipe for disaster. The only chance is to go there and give their play the respect it deserves and make life as difficult for them as we possibly can.
“Seal the spaces that they need to get into goalscoring positions, make it hard for their players in the final third to produce the passes and crosses they need to, and then when we do get the ball, have enough, especially on the counter attack to give them problems.
“We’re enormously wary of the fixture, we know how easy it is to get heavily beaten there because of their enormous attacking talent and wealth of talent Pep has at his disposal.”
 
Buzz Lightyear said:
Guardiola on Watford
"Roy Hodgson is an incredibly experienced manager, when at Crystal Palace we always struggled to break them down and do good games.
“Maybe (except for) three, four or five teams in the middle of the table, everyone is playing for some targets, to win the Premier League, qualify for the Champions League or fight relegation, every game is important.
“Watford, when you analyse, (they have) quality and physicality in the middle and up front. But at the same time, we have to be ourselves and try to get another three points.”
Click to expand...
I think Pep's selection of Fernandinho is partly explained in his penultimate sentence...... Watford's "physicality in the middle"?
 
Commentary By John Edwards @
14:25
Ederson on Watford and the title race
“Every game is different, but every game is important. Watford is going to be a difficult game because they are a team that have caused a lot of trouble to their opponents lately.
"With the change of manager, they improved as a team, they got some good results. We are going to face a fresh team, so we'll need to be ready both physically and mentally for the challenge.”
“We are in a crucial moment of the season, a close title race. There are six games remaining and our team has the capacity to play well and win them all. We need to go step-by-step though. The team is working well, despite the busy schedule of games which can be detrimental sometimes. We have been in this situation before, and we are working hard to achieve our goal of winning the Premier League.”
 
Morrison: We have to be patient
"I don’t think it’ll be a backs to the wall defensive game. We’re in a very strong position. We’re the champions so the expectations are naturally high. That’s football - that’s how it’ll be until the end of the season. There’ll be a nervous Etihad if it gets to 60 minutes and it’s 0-0!
"We have to trust the process. We have to be patient and believe that the team will find the solution to the problems that they will pose to us. We’ve got Mahrez and such strength in depth. We’ve got more than enough to change it in the game."
 
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