Watford vs Liverpool Predictions

• Liverpool are the only unbeaten team left in the Premier League.
• Liverpool have four wins in five away games in all competitions, and have scored at least three goals  in all of those fixtures.
• Mohamed Salah has scored eight goals in his last seven games for Liverpool.

Toughest possible start for Ranieri

Claudio Ranieri will oversee his first game in charge of Watford on Saturday as Liverpool visit Vicarage Road for the early Premier League kick off.

The veteran Italian manager could hardly face a bigger task to start his tenure as Hornets manager after replacing the axed Xisco as the Reds are the only unbeaten team remaining in the Premier League.

Both sides have a few injury concerns as Watford are likely to be without defender Christian Kabasele due to a thigh injury, while Liverpool are likely to be without first choice keeper Alisson and midfielder Fabinho after they returned late from international duty and Thiago Alcantara is also expected to miss out.

Rampant Reds won’t fall victim to new manager bounce

The arrival of a new manager often results in an instant upturn in results but the Hornets are unlikely to benefit from a ‘new manager bounce’ this weekend even if they do raise their performance levels.

Watford have lost four of their last six Premier League games with their only points in that period coming against the current bottom two of Norwich (won 3-1 away) and Newcastle (drew 1-1 at home).  Liverpool have drawn their last two league games, at Brentford and at home to Manchester City, but have been in fine scoring form and should be able to put a few past Watford’s suspect backline on Saturday as they look to get back to winning ways.

Unsurprisingly, Liverpool are the heavy favourites to win this match and there isn’t a great deal of value in backing them to simply win the match but the goals combined with results markets do stand out. 

In-form Salah can fire Liverpool to victory

An away win with over 2.5 goals looks a strong option for the main bet as Liverpool have scored 17 goals in their seven matches so far, meaning they have the best attacking record in the league, and they have scored at least three goals in six of their last seven games in all competitions.   Watford are yet to keep a clean sheet in seven attempts in the league and have allowed their opponents 20 attempts in each of their last two games, against Leeds and Newcastle outfits who have far less quality in attack than Jurgen Klopp’s title challengers. 

Watford are yet to take a real beating this season but they have only faced one of the ‘big six’ so far as they went down 1-0 to Tottenham.  Liverpool represent a far tougher challenge and despite Ranieri’s arrival and the boost that may bring there is still a chance this game could get away from the Hornets quickly so a 4-0 win for the visitors has some appeal in the correct score market.  Mohamed Salah is odds-on for an anytime goal but even at a short price the Egyptian is worth backing here as he has scored in each of his last seven appearances for the Anfield outfit, with eight goals in total during that time.

Watford possible starting line-up: Foster, Rose, Nkoulou, Troost-Ekong, Femenia, Kucka, Sissoko, Dennis, Cleverley, Sarr, Pedro.

Liverpool possible starting line-up: Kelleher, Robertson, Matip, Gomez, Alexander-Arnold, Jones, Henderson, Milner, Mane, Firmino, Salah.