Two teams that finished with the same score last season (40 points), finishing 16th and 17th respectively. Sam Dyche and Marco Silva make history for the club by being at the top of the season for the first time this season.
Defensive consistency on one side and many offensive improvements on the other promise to make this one of the most interesting matches of the day.
The “Clarets” come here in the 7th position of the table with 25 points and a victory here can make them match the Arsenal in 5th place in the table. This is a team that does not like to have a ball and is known for its direct football, with still standing balls as the main reference.
They are the Premier League team that made the most headers (269) and more long passes as well (1,115). The effectiveness stands out in this team having only missed 6 glaring opportunities in the 15 games, being the 19th team with more missed opportunities.
Looking at the results of last season the main highlight is for the improvement of results out of doors as they had only achieved 1 victory in the entire 2016/2017 season and currently have 4.
The defensive consistency is impressive and they are the 4th best defense of the event with only 12 goals conceded but they sinned a little by the lack of offensive opportunities being with 14 scored goals (13th best attack).
These 3 upcoming fixtures are extremely important for Burnley before entering the holiday season to face Tottenham and Manchester United in a phase that will certainly bring some fatigue.
Sam Dyche will play against his old team, which he has represented as a player and coach and will bring even more respect to this encounter.
Quote from: Sam Dyche, Burnley Coach
“We’ve been set aside every year and we’re used to it.
When you have such a strong start it is normal for you to find this surprising. I have already made it clear that I consider ourselves to be in a very favorable position, probably more than I expected. Not because I doubt this group but because we are honest in stating how complicated this league is. ”
Marco Silva brought to this Watford huge improvements, mainly offensive, and the 8th position of the Premier League with 22 points earned deserves great recognition to this group and the Portuguese coach.
They were a team that, so far, tried to play equal to all opponents and proof of this are the numbers they present at this stage.
Only two defeats against teams below the standings and 10 goals scored in the 6 games against the majors, having only failed to score against Manchester City.
They just did not score in 3 games throughout the season, being the 6th best attack with 25 goals scored. This approach ends up penalizing them defensively leaving them with a record of 26 goals conceded (5th worst defense).
They present better results out of doors by coincidence but looking at the games at home we see that 5 of those meetings were before the big ones.
Quote from: Marco Silva, Watford Coach
“When we analyzed them we saw that they are a very balanced team. They do not concede a lot of goals, they have a very good organization and they are very strong. All set pieces are advantages to them. We need to focus on this.
Prognosis Burnley vs. Watford:
Contradictory teams in the number of goals. We are facing a Burnley who never finished a home game with over goals (2.5) and Watford finished 71% of the games out with that market. Looking at this data there is much more value in an over-goal by the odds presented by the bookmakers.
In my opinion this is a game much more favorable to Burnley for playing at home and for the styles of both teams.
Burnley shows a lot of respect towards all the teams and penalizes who advances a lot in the field.
The Watford being a team that is exposed quite defensively will have to be on their side the changes to appear for this encounter because their weaknesses go against the strengths of the opponent. The team will be without Robbie Brady and in doubt are Ben Mee and Matt Lowton.
On the contrary, visitors seem to be more affected as they are still without Chalobah, Kaboul, Cathcart, Will Hughes and Isaac Success. Miguel Britos is doubtful for Marco Silva.
