Roy Hodgson admits facing former club Crystal Palace on Wednesday (February 23, 7.30pm KO) will be “strange”, but insists there is no room for sentiment as he looks to lead Watford to consecutive wins in the Premier League.
Croydon-born Hodgson spent four years at Selhurst Park before his departure last year, but says his several decades in management have pitted him against familiar faces on many occasions before.
The aim for the Hornets manager is to continue on from last weekend’s strong performance against Aston Villa which yielded a 1-0 win, thanks to Emmanuel Dennis’ powerful second-half header.
“The fact that we won the last game doesn’t make things any easier,” said Hodgson. “If anything it can make the next game slightly harder. I’ve got to believe that the type of players we have at the club will not allow any complacency to set in, and that they realise the importance of the occasion.
“It’s a special match because my four years at Crystal Palace were very special. It will be strange to be lining up on the other side wishing them harm and wishing us well.
“There’s never any sentiment, you work for the football club that are paying your wages and relying on you to get a result for their team.
“It will happen more and more where managers come up against former clubs and players, and it’s very rare I have a Premier League game where there aren’t players on the opposing team that I know well or have worked with! It’s a special occasion, not least because of our table position and the need for us to get results.”
Victory over the Villans has brought an added positivity to the group this week according to the Hornets boss, with the Midlands triumph marking the first win of Hodgson’s tenure so far.
However, all eyes are on Wednesday and the Eagles, both in Hodgson’s mentality and at the London Colney training ground.
“I think it’s done quite a lot,” Hodgson continued. “Three months between wins is a long time, so I think the players were delighted to get it, especially as it came after playing well. It wasn’t a lucky win, it was a win we worked for.
“On the other hand, we’ve had a nice couple of days where we can bask in the glow, but now it comes back to resetting back to point zero and making certain that whatever we did against Aston Villa that worked, we do again.”
Peter Etebo’s potential return is an added boost to the squad. The Nigeria international played the first half of the Under-23s’ defeat to Ipswich Town on Monday, and is back in full training.
João Pedro and Juraj Kucka both missed out on Saturday’s game, but are also making fast progress on a return from their minor knocks.
“[Etebo] has trained with us from the start, we’ve just been waiting on the go-ahead from his surgeon in Finland, and he got that last week,” the manager explained.
“As far as I’m concerned we don’t have any concerns, but he hasn’t played a competitive match for many months so it is good he can get some minutes in today’s game, and if he comes through okay, then we’re going to be able to start counting on them.
“With the other two [João Pedro and Kucka], their injuries were such that they are still being monitored. Both are making incredibly good progress, much quicker than we expected, but we still have to wait until tomorrow to see if Wednesday is a game too soon or if they can make it.”
Picking up a second clean sheet in four games at Villa Park, Watford’s backline were praised for being compact against their opposition, with Craig Cathcart winning Man of the Match.
New signing Samir also impressed before leaving the field with a knock, but it was confirmed that the Brazilian is fit and in contention for the next game.
“He’s a tough boy, he was fine yesterday and trained with us today. It was a knock which thankfully didn’t produce any threat of concussion, luckily by Sunday he was a lot better,” said Hodgson.
“[Cathcart] is never going to grab the headlines because centre-backs don’t, unless they happen to be [Liverpool defender Virgil] van Dijk. We’re very happy with him. His partnership with Samir has been very good, and it’s given us that basis we really need. One thing is for sure, we’ve got to get a solid base.
“We’ve got to be sure that we can go into games not dreaming of scoring four or five goals and winning 5-4, we’ve got to go into games believing if we defend as well as we know we can, the chances will come our way and the victory. To be fair, the back four and goalkeeper play such an important part in that and up to now, it has been a very good unit of our play.”
