Full-time: Watford 0-1 Crystal Palace
The points are Crystal Palace’s, secured by Yohan Cabaye’s penalty. Their third away victory of the season takes them up to sixth place, while Watford’s first home defeat sees them drop to 13th place. They are five points above the bottom three. Thanks for reading. Bye.
90 min+5: Hennessey is booked for timewasting over a free-kick.
90 min+2: Ibarbo breaks into the area on the left and tries to duck inside on to his right foot. Campbell tackles him brilliantly but concedes a corner. Palace deal with it.
90 min+1: Bolasie cuts inside from the left and unleashes a dipper that just flies over the bar.
90 min: There will be five minutes of stoppage time.
88 min: Zaha is booked for bringing down Capoue near the halfway line. This is not a free-flowing game.
85 min: Dwight Gayle is replaced by Fraizer Campbell.
84 min: Palace break and Puncheon lofts a ball over the top towards Gayle. He runs at Cathcart, who appears to have done enough to slow him down. But then Gayle checks back, turns and shoots with his left foot, the ball zipping inches past the far post.
82 min: Cathcart is booked for a crude foul on Gayle. That’s the cue for Watord to bring on Victor Ibarbo for his debut, Ben Watson trotting off.
81 min: Puncheon is booked for a silly foul on Watson. Watford can’t do much with the free-kick.
80 min: Puncheon curls the free-kick straight at Gomes.
79 min: Watford are losing their discipline. A huge clearance is brought down by Puncheon, who leaves it to Gayle just outside the D. He’s barged over by Prodl, who’s booked.
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78 min: Palace almost seal the points. Zaha hooks the ball into the area and Gayle tries to steer it in from close range. But he doesn’t.
77 min: Palace replaces Cabaye with McArthur.
76 min: Cabaye is booked after being fooled by a nifty piece of skill from Jurado on the left. Berghuis’s free-kick is an absolute travesty, whacked low and hard straight into the wall.
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75 min: Nyom, the man who conceded the Palace penalty, is replaced by Nathan Ake.
74 min: Watford have woken up. Ighalo goes so close to carving out a sight of goal, but he’s halted by an excellent challenge from Hangeland on the edge of the area.
73 min: Zaha is being booed by the Watford fans. It was a penalty.
GOAL! Watford 0-1 Crystal Palace (Cabaye pen, 71 min)
Yohan Cabaye slams the ball high and powerfully into the right corner with his right foot and although Gomes dives the right way, he can’t keep it out. Palace lead and Watford have finally conceded a home goal.
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PENALTY TO CRYSTAL PALACE!
70 min: Crystal Palace have been pretty poor during the second half but now they have a penalty! Wilfried Zaha runs at Nyom on the left and the Watford right-back clumsily dives in and catches the Palace winger. It was just inside the area and Anthony Taylor has a look before pointing to the spot. Jurado is booked for dissent.
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69 min: There are 21 minutes left.
68 min: There are 22 minutes left.
67 min: Scott Dann knocks a long ball forward. Goal-kick to Watford.
64 min: Watford make their first change, Almen Abdi replaced by Steven Berghuis.
62 min: That cross was Sako’s final contribution. He’s replaced by Wilfried Zaha.
60 min: Sako uses his strength to pummel his way down the left flank, away from Nyom, and he slithers a wonderful low cross into the Watford area. Craig Cathcart, facing his own goal, doesn’t want to score an own goal and so the ball runs to Gayle, who clips the ball over Gomes but against the left post! The ball rebounds back but into Gomes’s grateful grasp!
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58 min: Sako’s hopeful low shot deflects off a Watford heel and spins just wide of the right post. Gomes watches it behind carefully. Nothing comes from the corner.
57 min: Watford are on top at the moment. Abdi guides a corner into the box and it leads to confusion in the Palace defence, Hennessey unsure of his positioning. He’s almost caught out but Watford can’t take advantage and Palace break. The attack ends when Abdi brings down Gayle 30 yards from goal. Already on a booking, Abdi is spared a second yellow.
54 min: Slowly but surely, this is improving. Deeney and Ighalo use their physicality to set up Abdi for a shot from 25 yards. It’s a stinger, destined for the bottom right corner, but Hennessey dives down low and holds it well.
52 min: Is Palace’s problem the absence of a top striker? Dwight Gayle hasn’t done much. Admittedly that is now a guarantee he will score, knowing my recent MBM luck. But they are missing Connor Wickham.
49 min: Palace carve Watford open with a neat interchange on the left but Soure’s cross is easily claimed by Gomes. That’s a waste. He was in a good position.
47 min: What an effort from Jurado! He whips the free-kick over the wall and away from the diving Hennessey with his right foot, but the ball clangs back off the right post and to Deeney, who can only loop a header over the empty net on the stretch! That is so unlucky.
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46 min: Off we go again. Let’s hope for a bit more excitement in this, the second half. Watford begin with an attack. Abdi takes a poor touch, slips, and is given a free-kick for nothing 30 yards from goal. “Last time I saw a Super Blood Moon, I felt compelled to yell to the stranger waggling his bare behind at me through the window of a speeding car, that he should probably see a doctor about that,” says Mac Millings.
Half-time: Watford 0-0 Crystal Palace
There is room for improvement.
45 min+1: Abdi’s dangerous effort flicks off Bolasie’s head and skips over the bar. I think that might have gone in otherwise.
45 min: A corner to Palace on the left. Gomes flaps and the ball drops to Sako, whose shot is smothered away. He reacts by chopping down a Watford counter. Moments later Ighalo backs into Hangeland, who is duped into pulling down the Watford striker on the edge of the Palace box. This is a good opportunity for Abdi.
41 min: Ledley pings a ball over the top for Bolasie to chase. He’s away but Gomes is alert to the danger and boots the ball out of the ground, just to be sure. “I am here for you, Jacob, but I have nothing much to say. I am, nominally, a Watford fan, having been born and (mostly) raised in and around the Paris of the South/Home of the Harlequin Centre and not much else, but I haven’t been to Vicarage Road for 20 years or so, when some young Hornet (Bruce Dyer, perhaps) gave aging slow-thario, Stuart Pearce, a torrid 90 minutes’ licking,” says Mac Millings.
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40 min: Cabaye’s free-kick flashes straight through the box and bounces away for a goal-kick, no Palace player able to apply a decisive touch.
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39 min: Palace take a free-kick quickly, Cabaye finding Bolasie on the left. He’s scythed down by Abdi, who’s booked.
36 min: And now, a foul throw from Yannick Bolasie. “Perhaps it’s time to employ the MBMer curse by confidently stating that this game looks certain to end in a nil nil draw,” JR in Illinois says. “Or instead you could just talk about the “SUPER BLOOD MOON” coming tonight. Are y’all as excited about that over there as we are here?”
34 min: There is a lot of energy and pace and a lot of huffing and puffing.
31 min: “Sorry if I have missed this, but is there any news on why Patrick Bamford isn’t in the squad?” says Shaun Wilkinson. “I know it’s early days, but this loan spell is not looking promising so far. It’s one thing having Loic Remy or Falcao keeping you out of the matchday squad, it’s quite another when it’s Frazier Campbell.” I believe he has a slight knock, although Alan Pardew hasn’t sounded too impressed with the young striker so far.
30 min: Watford mount a threatening move for the first time in a while, Jurado finding space in the middle and slipping the ball wide to Abdi on the right. His first cross is blocked but the ball comes back to him. He dinks this one into the middle and Deeney nods wide.
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27 min: But Ighalo, quiet thus far, suddenly arrives on the right and wins a corner. Will anything of any significance occur? Will it?
No.
25 min: Patrick Fleming is out there. “Go on crystal palace.....that is all,” he that is alls. No, not much is happening at the moment.
23 min: Is anyone out there?
20 min: Watford make themselves better about themselves thanks to a searing run from Anya, whose dart to the byline ends with his cross being shuffled behind for a corner on the left. Abdi’s delivery is headed away at the near post, however.
18 min: A lengthy build-up but the end result is disappointing. Cabaye curls the ball straight into the wall and Puncheon’s follow-up volley dribbles harmlessly wide.
17 min: Palace win another free-kick, this time in a shooting position for Cabaye, Gayle dumped over just outside the area. Watford are struggling to keep hold of the ball at the moment. The free-kick is a few yards to the left of the D, perfect for a right footer.
15 min: Ben Watson, who was the man tasked with marking Hangeland, trots off the pitch to receive some treatment on an injured wrist.
13 min: Heurelho Gomes denies Brede Hangeland with a magnificent save! Cabaye fizzed a wicked free-kick into the six-yard box from the left and Hangeland bulleted the ball goalwards, only for Gomes to somehow get in the way of the header and divert it away! What a save! The ball runs to Sako on the right and he settles for a corner for Palace. It comes to nothing.
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12 min: Sako pops up on the left and collapses under a challenge from Nyom, who didn’t really do very much at all. Sako made the most of it but that doesn’t stop Anthony Taylor from giving Palace a free-kick in a dangerous position.
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10 min: The Palace fans are taunting their Watford opponents by asking whether or not they cried at Wembley two years ago. That’s very hurtful.
8 min: There’s a terrific atmosphere inside Vicarage Road. It’s very loud.
5 min: Watford are pushing. They win a corner on the left. It’s sent to the near post and Prodl heads a couple of yards wide, Hangeland doing enough to put him off.
3 min: Etienne Capoue strides forward from the right and decides to have a pop from 25 yards. It’s a fierce effort but it flies a few yards wide.
2 min: This is a hectic start from both sides. Having survived that early scare, Watford respond in kind. They fling a couple of balls into the box. Both are headed away but they attack again and Deeney almost breaks clear on goal. He’s just shepherded away by Dann.
And we’re off! Crystal Palace get the game going, attacking from the left to right, and they burst forward straight from the kick-off, showing tremendous positivity from the off. Yannick Bolasie drives inside from the left, wobbling and swerving past the challenges, but his off-balance shot with his right foot drifts well off target. What a start that would have been. That all happened within the space of the first eight seconds.
Here come the teams! They walk out to the strains of Z Cars.
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Harry Kewell is Watford’s U21 coach and he’s in the Sky Sports studio this afternoon. What a player he was at his best.
The teams!
Watford: Gomes; Nyom, Cathcart, Prodl, Anya; Capoue, Watson; Abdi, Deeney, Jurado; Ighalo. Subs: Arlauskis, Paredes, Ake, Guedioura, Ibarbo, Berghuis, Diamanti.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey; Kelly, Dann, Hangeland, Souare; Ledley, Cabaye; Puncheon, Sako, Bolasie; Gayle. Subs: McCarthy, Croll, Mariappa, McArthur, Zaha, Gray, Campbell.
Referee: Anthony Taylor.
Preamble
Hello. It’s important to remember that there’s always next season. Two years and a bit ago, Crystal Palace and Watford met at Wembley in the Championship play-off final. Watford were the favourites, having gone mightily close to going up automatically, only to blow it with an avoidable defeat to Leeds United on the final day, having blown it several times beforehand with some avoidable dropped points, while Ian Holloway’s Palace had just about snuck into the top six, their form largely execrable after the turn of the year - the way that they dropped out of contention for a place in the top two was the prototype for Derby County’s epic collapse last season, only Derby managed to see it through and finish eighth.
Palace didn’t quite take it that far and made it to the final thanks to Wilfried Zaha’s inspirational performance against Brighton in their semi, but they lost Glenn Murray to a serious knee injury and it was suspected that Watford had the firepower, with Matej Vydra and Troy Deeney up front, to beat them. Not so! It all came down to one game. Kevin Phillips scored the winner. Palace were in the Premier League for the first time since the 2004-05 season and Watford wept hot salty years, left to wonder how they had managed to let promotion slip out of their hands.
But here we are now, the pair of them reunited in the Premier League two years later, Palace an established mid-table side at the very least, Watford seemingly ready to make a mightily good fist of staying up judging by their confident performances in their first six games. There’s always next season, you see. Of course the next season for Watford wasn’t great, Gianfranco Zola quitting as manager early, a promotion challenge never on the cards, but last year they got their act together despite all the managerial upheaval.
Slavisa Jokanovic organised them and then, er, left, to be replaced by Quique Sanchez Flores, and the former Atletico Madrid manager is settling well. Watford are yet to concede a goal at home, Odhion Ighalo is scoring, Troy Deeney is bustling and they could go as high as fifth if they win heavily today. Not that it will be easy. Palace arrive at Vicarage Road after suffering two tight defeats against Tottenham and Manchester City and there are a couple of questions to resolve up front, but Alan Pardew’s nifty counter-attackers have already won at Chelsea and, well, they could go as high as fifth if they win heavily today. Watford v Crystal Palace? It’s not a classic Premier League fixture but a lot can change in two years in football. This could be good.
Kick-off: 4pm.
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