Premier League: Watford- Liverpool

We have discussed several times this season both Liverpool's very strong record against fellow big 6-7 teams and their poor form when Sadio Mane is sidelined.

It is a very different story when Pool play the "lesser lights" in the division and they struggle to get "up" for these fixtures and have lost six games this season to teams all of whom were bottom eight and who now have an average league placing of 14.3, they have conceded at least twice in trips to Burnley/Bournemouth/Swansea/Hull/Leicester, 13 goals in total and did not win one of those. This is exactly the type of game they underperform in.

Ahead of a game at the end of January I spoke about the huge impact Mane had made and how important he was to the Reds ..........

When Mane plays Liverpool are 15-5-1 this season, the only loss was away to Bournemouth and Pool led 3-1 there when he left the pitch with 21 minutes remaining !

They have won just 2/7 in the league when he is missing and the Sengalese striker will not play again this season.

Watford have won 8 home games this season, which compares favourably with the two Manchester clubs and have kept clean sheets in the last three, they have lost only twice at Vicarage Road by more than a single goal, one came early season when they were really struggling defensively and the other at New Year against Tottenham when we were firmly against them as they had a massive injury list and could hardly put a competitive team out....

For Watford today, Valon Behrami, Daryl Janmaat, Adrian Mariappa, Roberto Pereyra, Isaac Success, Ben Watson and Miguel Britos are out, while Stefano Okaka and Craig Cathcart face late tests . The first two left the match early against Palace and the Hornets are short of key players today and the central spine and right flank will be especially hard hit.

No such issues today and the Hornets are a different team defensively now and when close to full strength. The whole town and players received a major boost over the weekend with the victory for local lad and supporter Anthony Joshua over Wladimir Klitschko, which was a very big deal in the UK, Joshua is friends with several of the players, especially Troy Deeney who he is very close to and some were at the fight (Deeney was interviewed with Joshua afterwards). Success for a friend is often a great motivating factor in sport and I think there will be increased desire from the home team in the aftermath of perhaps the biggest fight ever held in the UK and that could go double for Deeney who is in good form anyway, with six goals and an assists in his last ten Premier league starts.

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Good Luck.