Chelsea’s bid for Champions League football took a hit on Wednesday evening as they fell to defeat to West Ham.
Frank Lampard’s side will look to get back on track on Saturday evening as they welcome Watford to Stamford Bridge who are fighting for Premier League survival themselves.
Where and When?
The game will take place at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 4th July with kick off at 8pm.
Previous Meetings
In truth there has been very few previous meetings with the sides having only met 36 times in history. In those games, Chelsea have won over half with 20 wins with the visitors on Saturday night having only won on ten occasions.
The meeting between these two at Vicarage Road earlier this season saw Lampard’s Champions League hopefuls record a 2-1 win thanks to Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic. In fact, Blues fans will be relieved to see they have won the previous three meetings in a row especially as the season begins to come to a conclusion.
The last fixture a Stamford Bridge between these two sides saw Chelsea run out 3-0 winners as they celebrated lifting the Premier League title. The last time Watford won at Stamford Bridge was way back in 1986 when in the Old First Division the Hornets ran out 5-1 winners.
Team News
Chelsea will be without midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who has an Achilles injury.
Head coach Frank Lampard has also confirmed that young defender Fikayo Tomori remains on the sidelines.
Watford trio Andre Gray, Nathaniel Chalobah and Domingos Quina have been recalled after being omitted last week for disciplinary reasons.
Gerard Deulofeu, Daryl Janmaat and Isaac Success are the Hornets' only certain absentees.
Last Five Games
Chelsea:
(L) 2-3 vs West Ham
(W) 1-0 vs Leicester (FA Cup)
(W) 2-1 vs Manchester City
(W) 2-1 vs Aston Villa
(W) 4-0 vs Everton
Watford
(L) 1-3 vs Southampton
(L) 0-1 vs Burnley
(D) 1-1 vs Leicester
(L) 0-1 vs Crystal Palace
(W) 3-0 vs Liverpool
Prediction
Chelsea have got back into the swing of things relatively well, albeit a blip on Wednesday evening. It has been a successful first season for Frank Lampard and the Champions League qualification would be the cherry on the cake.
Watford are struggling and a return to the Football League is looking more likely as each week passes. Nigel Pearson had brought some renewed hope but no win since the return from lockdown, coupled with some tough fixtures means relegation is looking likely.
Chelsea 3-1 Watford
Match Preview written by Ryan Day
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