by Bulldog Drummond
So let’s have a look at Watford’s flying start that got all the chattering bots chattering away with much excitement.
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Aug 2018 | Watford v Brighton and Hove | W | 2-0 | League |
| 19 Aug 2018 | Burnley v Watford | W | 1-3 | League |
| 26 Aug 2018 | Watford v Crystal Palace | W | 2-1 | League |
| 29 Aug 2018 | Reading v Watford | W | 0-2 | League Cup |
| 02 Sep 2018 | Watford v Tottenham Nomads | W | 2-1 | League |
| 15 Sep 2018 | Watford v Manchester United | L | 1-2 | League |
| 22 Sep 2018 | Fulham v Watford | D | 1-1 | League |
| 26 Sep 2018 | Tottenham Nomads v Watford | L | 2-2 (4-2) | League Cup |
The Nomads game on 26 September was played in Milton Keynes because of the electrical unsafety of Tiny Tot Stadium. (Incidentally have you noticed the articles appearing since the story about chaos on the building site broke? Several journalists have been publishing pieces about how wonderful it looks and how great it is going to be. Funny that. That they should all do that at once, I mean. Quite a coincidence.)
So to get a more fulsome grip on things, here is the complete home and away league table for the top six at the moment.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 18 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 3 | 16 | 16 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 16 |
| 4 | Watford | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 13 |
| 5 | Tottenham Nomads | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| 6 | Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
Clearly, although it is still what the bots like to call “early doors” but which actually just means “early,” our away form is improving, and fortunately this is not happening at the expense of our home form. Here’s the away situation to date
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 7 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 5 | Manchester United | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Crystal Palace | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 7 | Arsenal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | Watford | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Now I keep going on about home and away form because of two things. First last season it proved to be a very good indicator of how a match was going to end up, and second because my prediction for this season was that if we could just take our away form back to the level of previous seasons, while keeping the home form at its current level, a top four finish would be ours for the taking. So far we are delivering on that.
But here’s a thought – Watford have only played twice away. That might have helped them rise up the table a little.
If we move on to the Head of Head things we can see that the number of games played between the clubs is quite modest: just 28 all told. 15 to us and 12 to them with one draw. And because it is so small I can run the full list.
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03 Feb 1906 | Woolwich Arsenal v Watford | W | 3-0 | FA Cup |
| 15 Jan 1910 | Woolwich Arsenal v Watford | W | 3-0 | FA Cup |
| 08 Mar 1980 | Watford v Arsenal | W | 1-2 | FA Cup |
| 27 Nov 1982 | Arsenal v Watford | L | 2-4 | Division One |
| 30 Apr 1983 | Watford v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Division One |
| 17 Dec 1983 | Arsenal v Watford | W | 3-1 | Division One |
| 12 May 1984 | Watford v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Division One |
| 01 Sep 1984 | Watford v Arsenal | W | 3-4 | Division One |
| 22 Dec 1984 | Arsenal v Watford | D | 1-1 | Division One |
| 31 Mar 1986 | Arsenal v Watford | L | 0-2 | Division One |
| 01 Apr 1986 | Watford v Arsenal | L | 3-0 | Division One |
| 11 Oct 1986 | Arsenal v Watford | W | 3-1 | Division One |
| 14 Mar 1987 | Arsenal v Watford | L | 1-3 | FA Cup |
| 21 Mar 1987 | Watford v Arsenal | L | 2-0 | Division One |
| 28 Nov 1987 | Watford v Arsenal | L | 2-0 | Division One |
| 15 Apr 1988 | Arsenal v Watford | L | 0-1 | Division One |
| 25 Sep 1999 | Arsenal v Watford | W | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 23 Apr 2000 | Watford v Arsenal | W | 2-3 | Premier League |
| 05 Jan 2002 | Watford v Arsenal | W | 2-4 | FA Cup |
| 14 Oct 2006 | Arsenal v Watford | W | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 26 Dec 2006 | Watford v Arsenal | W | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 17 Oct 2015 | Watford v Arsenal | W | 0-3 | Premier League |
| 13 Mar 2016 | Arsenal v Watford | L | 1-2 | FA Cup |
| 02 Apr 2016 | Arsenal v Watford | W | 4-0 | Premier League |
| 27 Aug 2016 | Watford v Arsenal | W | 1-3 | Premier League |
| 31 Jan 2017 | Arsenal v Watford | L | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 14 Oct 2017 | Watford v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 11 Mar 2018 | Arsenal v Watford | W | 3-0 | Premier League |
So yes they can be cheeky and win at our place, but they don’t make a habit of it.
And a few words from their manager
“I can see Emery’s style in Arsenal as I saw in Sevilla and other teams he has trained before (and who I managed against). I know they are a good team because they have good players. They are improving game by game, getting better results, in this moment they are in a good moment, and we know it will be a tough game for us.”
- Referee preview Matchweek 7 – The same ref twice in a month is utterly ridiculous
- After the Bees, the Hornets. Arsenal v Watford and that home and away thing
- Untold Arsenal (and Arsenal Belgium) get the VIP treatment at London Colney
My first time commenting on untold, since first reading an interesting piece by Tony in 2013.
I find it bemusing that Tottenham can get away with Administrional blips but when it is Arsenal bone and teeth will gnaw, just look at all Report in News now is all about Arsenal foolishness and dithering in the Ramsey contract saga, some even manage to rub it on Mesut Ozil.
If it were up to me I would have sold Aaron quite long ago, the moment I became aggrieved with him was when he lost a ball in the Arsenal half after turning from the opposition half vs spurs in 12/13 and also against tomorrow’s opponent when he was directly at fault for the two goals they scored before being sub off due to injury.
My thoughts are let Aaron go and use the money he is requesting for to upgrade our academy.
Let’s focus on the matches in the PL that have been played between Arsenal and Watford since 1999 to date. Watford have only beaten Arsenal once at the Ems in Jan 2017 and at the Vicarage Road in Oct 2017. But Arsenal have beaten them 9 times at home and at away during the 11 match campaign between themselves. And I strongly believe this dominance beating of Watford by Arsenal in the PL will continue unrestricted tomorrow at the Ems when the duo club sides play against each other.
Arsenal will beat Watford tomorrow unreservedly in the PL to overthrow them from the 4th position they are occupying in the table and possibly move into the possible to occupy it themselves, but if Tottenham Hs stuttered at Huddesfield tomorrow. Or else, they will move up in the table to 5th position and occupy it. Butt if tottenham did not stuttered at Huddersfield, but I think they will to allow Arsenal go 4th. But if peradventure Arsenal go 5th tomorrow, no cry will be cried over that by us Gooners. As that will be okay for us for the time being.
Let’s focus on the matches in the PL that have been played between Arsenal and Watford since 1999 to date. Watford have only beaten Arsenal once at the Ems in Jan 2017 and at the Vicarage Road in Oct 2017. But Arsenal have beaten them 9 times at home and at away during the 11 match campaign between themselves. And I strongly believe this dominance beating of Watford by Arsenal in the PL will continue unrestricted tomorrow at the Ems when the duo club sides play against each other.
Arsenal will beat Watford tomorrow unreservedly in the PL and overthrow them from the 4th position they are occupying in the table and possibly move into the position to occupy it themselves, but if Tottenham Hs stuttered at Huddesfield tomorrow. Or else, Arsenal will move up in the table to 5th position and occupy it. But if tottenham did not stutter at Huddersfield, but I think they will to allow Arsenal go 4th. And if peradventure Arsenal go 5th tomorrow, no cry will be cried over that by us Gooners. As that will be okay for us for the time being.
Admini, sorry for my duplicate comment posting. I spotted some errors in my first posting but I’ve corrected them in my 2nd one.
Thanks.