Watford vs Leicester City. Premier League.
Vicarage RoadAttendance20,640.
Saturday 19 November 2016 14:09, UK
Watford welcome back Sebastian Prodl as they look to bounce back from their Liverpool thrashing when they host Leicester on Saturday.
The centre-back missed the last Premier League fixture with a groin injury and was not selected for this week's international fixtures with Austria in order to recuperate.
The 29-year-old has emerged as one of the Hornet's most reliable players this season and missed his side's 6-1 thumping to Liverpool.
Walter Mazzarri's team sit eighth in the table, six places above reigning champions Leicester, and a win for Watford could see them climb into the top six.
Despite some assured performances from Mazzarri's men, Watford suffered humiliation in their last outing when Jurgen Klopp's side sank them with their joint biggest ever league defeat.
Leicester, meanwhile, sit in the bottom-half of the table hoping to find their form off the back of a 2-1 defeat at the hands of West Brom before the international break.
Team news
Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes is expected to be fit to face Leicester on Saturday. Gomes suffered a knee injury in the 6-1 defeat to Liverpool but has been progressing well.
Christian Kabasele is unavailable after picking up a thigh injury on international duty but Stefano Okaka (hamstring) is back in contention.
Leicester's Danny Drinkwater is rated as 50-50 to face Watford as he battles a rib injury.
The midfielder pulled out of the England squad to face Scotland and Spain and, while he has trained with the Foxes, he remains a doubt.
Kasper Schmeichel (broken hand) and Nampalys Mendy (ankle) are definitely out and Demarai Gray (calf) is a doubt after missing England Under-21s' 3-2 friendly defeat to France on Monday.
Opta stats
Watford had kept three successive clean sheets in the league before Liverpool hit six past them.
They are unbeaten in their last three Premier League games at Vicarage Road, winning two of those.
Odion Ighalo has struggled to emulate his goal-scoring success of last season, failing to find the net in his last six appearances.
Troy Deeney is just one goal away from reaching 100 for the club, having scored 99 in 275 games.
Leicester have started their title defence with 12 points from their first 11 games, compared to Chelsea's 11 points at the same point last season.
The Foxes have already lost two more league games this season than they did during whole of last season.
But on a brighter note for Leicester fans, their side have become the first side in Champions League history to keep a clean sheet in each of their first four games of the competition.
Merson's prediction
This will be a good game, and I don't see much between the two teams. At the moment I think they're relatively evenly matched, and you don't know whether Leicester are going to rest players for the Champions League.
Watford haven't really got that run together, but overall I think they've done great to be where they are. They can't moan at their last 18 months at all.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1
Betting
Leicester are Sky Bet's marginal favourites at 6/4, with Watford 7/4 while the draw is priced at 23/10.
The Foxes' disappointing campaign to date has seen them drift from 25/1 to 750/1 to retain their Premier League title, while they are just double the price of their visitors to face relegation at 20/1.
Jamie Vardy's lack of domestic form has seen him lose favouritism in the first goalscorer betting at 11/2, with Islam Slimani and Troy Deeney both shorter odds at 5/1 apiece.
