After an important victory against Aston Villa last weekend, Roy Hodgson’s Watford will be looking to further their momentum against their next opponents, Crystal Palace.
Ahead of the Premier League encounter at Vicarage Road (February 23, 7.30pm KO), we take a statistical deep dive into the facts and figures that surround the game.
Previous Meetings
Watford have won four of their last six meetings with Crystal Palace in all competitions (D1 L1), as many as they had in their previous 20 against them. The Hornets have already won a home match against the Eagles this season, triumphing 1-0 in the Carabao Cup second round.
After winning their first Premier League away game against Watford 1-0 in September 2015, Crystal Palace have failed to win any of their last four visits to Vicarage Road in the competition (D3 L1).
None of the seven victories in Premier League games between Palace and the Hornets have been by more than a one-goal margin – it’s the most victories a Premier League fixture has seen without any of them being by more than one goal.
The Dugouts
Watford manager Hodgson took charge of 148 Premier League games at Crystal Palace between 2017 and 2021, more than any other manager for the Eagles in the competition.
This will be his 30th Premier League game against a side he’s previously managed in the competition (W12 D5 L12), already more than any other manager has done.
Hodgson is unbeaten in his two Premier League games against Crystal Palace (W1 D1), with those games coming in 1997/98 with Blackburn.
Managers to have previously taken charge of Palace in the Premier League have won just once in the last six such PL fixtures against the Eagles (D2 L3).
Key Players
Emmanuel Dennis has been involved in 58 per cent of Watford’s 24 Premier League goals this season (9 goals, 5 assists), the highest ratio of any player in the competition this term.
The Nigerian is looking to become just the fourth different Watford player to score 10+ goals in a Premier League campaign, after Troy Deeney (three times), Odion Ighalo (2015/16) and Gerard Deulofeu (2018/19).
Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha has been directly involved in 13 goals in his last 16 Premier League away games against promoted sides, scoring eight and assisting five.
This will be Zaha’s first Premier League game against former boss Hodgson; Zaha has appeared in more of Hodgson’s starting XIs than anyone else in the Premier League (127) and is the top scorer (34) in the competition under him.
Joshua King is the only current member of the Golden Boys’ squad to have scored more than once against Palace in the Premier League, with the Norwegian netting three times while with Bournemouth (May 2019, April 2018 and August 2016).
Opposition Stat Attack
The Eagles’ top goalscorer is Conor Gallagher, with seven. The 22-year-old also leads the way with the most shots on target (17) and crosses attempted (88).
Zaha tops the rankings for the most dribbles attempted (94), and the winger has also won the most fouls (59) in the Palace team.
Michael Olise has completed the most assists (4), and Tyrick Mitchell leads the way for tackles attempted (77) and interceptions (31).
