Maurizio Sarri celebrates his first Premier League Boxing Day away at Vicarage Road. Well, let’s hope Chelsea give him reason to celebrate.
Opponents like Watford away on Boxing Day are a perfect example of why the Premier League is the most competitive and entertaining league in the world. This fixture should be all Chelsea, but on recent form, last year’s fixture and, bloody hell, football, who knows. Here’s our predictions.
Scott Brant: Watford 1 – 1 Chelsea. Not sure what to expect. It would be nice if they came out and destroyed Watford. But I expected them to embarrass Leicester City and instead they left us with our heads down. This is a match the Blues NEED to win, which means it falls on Eden Hazard’s shoulders to take over a match and assure they walk away victorious. I’m not convinced that occurs.
Barrett Rouen: 1 – 2. The Blues nervily get through this one. It’s not a major issue for them, but they win an uncreative and uninspiring match in which we see why they’re chasing fourth, not first. No Callum Hudson-Odoi, no Ethan Ampadu, so who cares.
Tan Yi Hao: 2 – 0. The only other time I predicted a Chelsea loss this season was against Manchester City. Chelsea won 2-0 so I’m going ahead and predicting a Chelsea loss while keeping my fingers crossed for a win.
Seriously though, Watford on paper are a far more dangerous side then Leicester City, who were mainly reliant on Jamie Vardy and James Maddison for their attacking output. The hornets are not seventh without reason, and Chelsea would be lucky to come away with all three points against their mid week opponents.
Abhishek Pancholi: 2 – 1. Yes, I’m predicting another loss. And this one will be more painful than the last.
Watford are not an easy team to beat and they will come at Chelsea with the energy of a five-year old hopped up on Christmas candy. The Chelsea defence will – not for the first time – find itself being dragged this way and that. Emerson will manage to shut up everyone who prefers him to Alonso by being, well, crap. The attack won’t fare much better, with Olivier Giroud grabbing a late consolation goal after spending the past 85 minutes being useless.
Kevin Peacock: 1 – 3. Having lost at home to Leicester and been thrashed in this same fixture last season, Chelsea’s players show their true fighting spirit. It’s easy to criticise the team at the moment, but in spells they have played some good football. With the new year approaching along with a couple of new players we can only hope to see the squad given a lift.
Watford will be a tough opponent for sure but the lion will once again roar in the pride of London. NB: Probably.