Watford vs Sheffield United Predictions

• Watford failed to score in five of their 11 home league games since the turn of the year.
• Sheffield United failed to score in four of the last eight Championship away games of 2021-22.
• Watford have failed to score in three of their last four pre-season friendlies, two of which finished 0-0.

Defences on top at Vicarage Road

Expect to see two well-drilled defences and minimal goalmouth action when Watford host Sheffield United on Monday night. The Hornets are rebuilding again after relegation last term and went in a completely different direction to their previous appointments when they took Rob Edwards from League Two champions Forest Green.

He will bring some fresh ideas to a squad that looked unwilling to adhere to Roy Hodgson’s approach. Watford’s results were awful during the run-in, when they took only one point from their final nine games. That was against one of the most insipid displays imaginable from fellow relegation candidates Everton.

Things will have to change quickly if Edwards is to last longer than some of his predecessors and the signs from pre-season suggest he is making them hard to beat, but they still lack a cutting edge. It’s hard to see them seriously troubling one of the best defensive outfits in last season’s edition of the Championship – as Sheffield United clearly became under Paul Heckingbottom.

Blades were often blunt away from home

The Blades too may lack a bit of sparkle now Morgan Gibbs-White has gone and there remain doubts over two of their top strikers – Billy Sharp and Oli McBurnie. This game could be settled by just one goal and there’s a pretty good chance that they both cancel each other out.

Hence, the selection is to back both teams not to score and take a punt on a 0-0 result. The Blades failed to score in four of the last eight Championship away games of 2021-22 and only one of the opponents that blanked them was in the mix for promotion at the business end of the campaign.