Watford really have to scrabble around for good omens when it comes to facing Manchester City.
The Hornets have never beaten City in the Premier League, losing the previous 10 editions of the fixture by an aggregate score of 37-4.
Hopes that an injury crisis and City might enhance their chances at Vicarage Road today were dashed when Pep Guardiola revealed a clean bill of health, with the exception of long-term absentee Ferran Torres, and the Blues boss has named a strong side as expected.
Another potential blow for Watford is they have to contend with Raheem Sterling at the point when the England forward looks to have definitively emerged from his slump in club form.
He is far from alone in Guardiola’s squad, but Sterling loves facing the Hertfordshire outfit. In eight appearances against Watford in all competitions, he has scored 10 times.
Half of that haul is accounted for by a period that still represents the peak of a City career with numerous high points.
In the 2018/19 treble-winning season, Sterling scored all three goals in a 3-1 Premier League win at the Etihad Stadium and followed those up with a brace in the 6-0 FA Cup final romp.
If there remains mental scarring from that reverse and the subsequent 8-0 and 4-0 humiliations as Watford were relegated the following season - Sterling also hit a brace in the latter win - then a man who now has 150 Premier League goal involvements to his name looks primed to capitalise.
Even a few weeks ago, the idea of Sterling starting alongside Phil Foden and Jack Grealish in a front three, rather than being shunted aside for his international colleagues, seemed fanciful.
But a run of three goals in three outings versus Club Brugge, Everton and Paris Saint-Germain stoked the fires of recovery.
Against Aston Villa in midweek, Raheem did not find the net but he was at his back to his harrying, harassing best - driving City forward and never giving the opposition defence an opportunity to draw breath. According to FBref, he made seven shot-creating actions at Villa Park and completed six of his nine dribbles. On each metric, he led the way for City.
"I'd like to praise Raheem Sterling, the best game for a long time," Guardiola said afterwards, bringing up the 26-year-old’s contribution unprompted at the post-match news conference.
"Hopefully, he can continue this way. He was a threat for us and deserved all my compliments. Sensational."
Claudio Ranieri might have won his only previous meeting with Guardiola, but this will not have been music to the veteran Italian coach’s ears.
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