Watford are due to face Ipswich Town in a 19:45 kick-off at Vicarage Road, with both sides looking to win to increase their chances of promotion contention.
The Hornets come off the back of a 2-0 home win to Derby in Ed Stills’ first victory; meanwhile, the Tractor Boys narrowly lost 5-3 at the Racecourse to Wrexham after being 3-2 up.
Watford set up strongly in their latest match of the season, claiming their fourth clean sheet of the season.
Stephen Mfuni was at the heart of this, with the most dribbles in the match with 4, and the young defender also won the most duels with twelve, earning a man-of-the-match performance.
Mfuni played at left back; however, we could see a transition back into central defence, with Marc Bola’s assist off the bench on Saturday afternoon putting him into contention in that position.
James Abankwah has found his way back into the Watford defence of late. The Irishman made four tackles, seven recoveries and had a match rating of 7.7 against Derby County.
Again, like last week, it will be intriguing to see who will start in defence given Abankwah and Goglichidze’s partnership. Mattie Pollock is also available in that position.
Watford have plenty of quality in their squad, with the ability to be able to rotate some players against Ipswich Town, given the three games in a week.
Both in attack and defence, the new manager Edward Still has a large variety to choose from.
The bench on Saturday included Kwadwo Baah, who was influential for Watford last season with his ability to take on his man with pace and also this season with a goal and assist.
Other players included Mamadou Doumbia, who came on and scored, as well as Edoardo Bove, who made his return to football against Preston North End.
Watford have the opportunity to start with a different centre back pairing, given the options they have, including Mattie Pollock and Formose Mendy.
Stephen Mfuni, Saba Goglichidze and James Abankwah are all versatile players, so it allows them to move from the central defence area, as seen with Mfuni at left back against Derby.
With players at Edward Still’s disposal, he may look to switch things up against Ipswich Town on Tuesday evening.
Edward Still likes to set his sides in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 formation. We have seen the Englishman use the 4-2-3-1 in his first two matches as Manager.
Still’s approach allowed Watford to defend compactly, with a quick transition to attack when the ball is won back.
When Mfuni was at left back, he played a bit deeper than Bola as he played more as a wing back, claiming an assist which sealed the three points for Watford.
There is an emphasis on the wing, with balls down the channel to the wide players, as shown by Othmane Maamma’s impact in the first goal against Derby.
Othmane Maamaa is likely to be a doubt after going off injured in the 23rd minute at the weekend.
When asked about the extent of Maamma’s injury, Still said We’re trying to manage that as best we can”
“ trying to push, but not exaggerate. We need to evaluate how bad Othmane’s injury is.”
Baah went off 18 minutes after coming on as he signalled to the bench he needed to come off.
Still said, “We need to evaluate Kwadwo also. As soon as he made a signal that he felt something, it was better to take him off and not take unnecessary risks.
Nestroy Irankunda did receive treatment; however, Still confirmed that he is not injured after coming off in the second half at the weekend.
Ipswich will be looking to bounce back from the 5-3 loss at Wrexham, whilst Watford will be looking to continue their unbeaten run under Edward Still.
I predict plenty of goals; however, a draw with both sides to take a point, 2-2.
