Sports Blog 05/02/2018: Premier League Preview – Watford vs Chelsea, Monday 5th February 2018

Can Chelsea climb back into 3rd when they travel to Watford at 8pm on Sky Sports?

At most times in the Premier League’s history, and for the majority of teams in the top flight in 2018, the prospect of a 3rd place finish, a spot in the FA Cup 5th round, and a space in the Champions League last 16 would be cause for celebration. However, for defending champions Chelsea there’s nothing but a sense of disappointment about this season.



The Blues are currently 19 points off of league leaders Man City having suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth last Wednesday, recently lost their EFL Cup semi-final to Arsenal, and were drawn Barcelona in the Champions League knockouts. Even their FA Cup progress is tainted by the fact that their 3rd round fixture against Norwich was forced first to a replay, and then to penalties.

Then there’s their business over the January transfer window. While they did sign Emerson Palmieri from Roma, they failed to secure Edin Dzeko from the Italian club, instead settling for Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman sits at a Super Mega PGM of 41-48 as he awaits his Blues debut, a likelihood given Alvaro Morata is out with a back injury. Ross Barkley, the earliest of Chelsea’s winter signings, may also be side-lined, after picking up a hamstring injury in training.

Watford, meanwhile, are one of those many Premier League sides that appear safer than they actually are. Normally a team in 11th wouldn’t be too concerned about relegation; however the Hornets are only 3 points above 18th place Stoke, a gap that would increase to a more comfortable 6 points with an unlikely win on Monday night.

It’s a testament to how well Watford were doing that they aren’t right at the bottom of the table. After picking up 6 wins, 4 losses and 3 draws in their first 13 games, the club’s season began to unravel at the end of November. They’ve got one league win in their last 12 games, drawing 3 and losing the other 8, their most recent result being a 0-0 draw against Stoke that marked Javi Garcia’s second game in charge (his first being a 1-0 loss to Southampton in the FA Cup).

Antonio Conte will be gunning to get things back on track this Monday, with Spreadex offering a Chelsea/Watford (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 1-1.2 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.7-2.9.