Match Pack: Manchester City v Watford

• Manchester City v Watford
• Etihad Stadium
• Premier League
• Saturday April 23, 3pm BST
• Green third kit, pink goalkeeper kit

Referee: Kevin Friend
Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Beck
Fourth Official: Jonathan Moss
VAR: Lee Mason
Assistant VAR: Darren Cann

Manchester City are embroiled in a fierce fight for the Premier League title, currently sitting a point ahead of second-placed Liverpool in the table.

The Citizens are enjoying a successful season even by the standards set in recent years, with a UEFA Champions League semi-final to look forward to next week alongside their attempts to secure a fourth domestic crown in five years.

• All three of Roy Hodgson’s Premier League wins over Manchester City have come away from home (2 with Fulham, 1 with Crystal Palace), with the ex-England boss only beating Newcastle more often in away games (4).

• Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has won all 10 of his meetings with Watford in all competitions. It’s his best 100 per cent win-rate against an opponent in his managerial career.

• Dan Gosling, Tom Cleverley and Cucho Hernández have all scored against Manchester City, with the latter notching for Watford in the sides’ previous meeting in December.

For the full statistical breakdown, check out Stats Buzz: Manchester City In Numbers.

Defender William Troost-Ekong (hamstring) has returned to full training ahead of this weekend's trip north, but Cucho Hernández (hamstring) will certainly miss out. Samuel Kalu (ankle) and Francisco Sierralta (calf) are also back on the grass, with two other Hornets nursing knocks.

Manchester City's defensive trio John Stones, Kyle Walker and Nathan Aké will have late fitness tests on Saturday ahead of the fixture. Rúben Dias recently returned from a hamstring injury and will be fit.

Roy Hodgson, Watford manager:

“What we’re going to do is try and make ourselves unpopular. If we want to make ourselves popular with Pep, the Man City crowd and everyone else, all we do is go hell for leather and try to match them at their game, which is a recipe for disaster. The only chance is to go there and give their play the respect it deserves and make life as difficult for them as we possibly can.

“Seal the spaces that they need to get into goalscoring positions, make it hard for their players in the final third to produce the passes and crosses they need to, and then when we do get the ball, have enough, especially on the counter attack to give them problems.

“We’re enormously wary of the fixture, we know how easy it is to get heavily beaten there because of their enormous attacking talent and wealth of talent Pep has at his disposal.”

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City Head Coach:

“Roy Hodgson is an incredibly experienced manager, when at [Crystal] Palace we always struggled to break them down and do good games. When you analyse Watford they have their quality and physicality, we have to be ourselves and try to get another three points.”

Overall:

• Won: 6
  
• Drawn: 5
  
• Lost: 21
  

Last Six:
December 2021: Watford 1-3 Manchester City (Premier League)
July 2020: Watford 0-4 Manchester City (Premier League)
September 2019: Manchester City 8-0 Watford (Premier League)
May 2019: Manchester City 6-0 Watford (FA Cup)
March 2019: Manchester City 3-1 Watford (Premier League)
December 2018: Watford 1-2 Manchester City (Premier League)

Watford eliminated Manchester City from the FA Cup at the fourth-round stage in 1986, winning 3-1 at Maine Road thanks to goals from Neil Smillie, John Barnes and Worrell Sterling.