Live match preview – Watford vs West Ham 28.12.2021

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Watford vs West Ham in the Premier League on Tuesday; kick-off 3pm.

Team news

Watford manager Claudio Ranieri will have a number of players available when his side host West Ham on Tuesday after they had been in isolation due to Covid-19 protocols.

The Hornets have not played since their 2-1 defeat at Brentford on December 10, and there have been more positive tests. The club have confirmed some players will be able to return but have not provided names.

Francisco Sierralta has recovered from a hamstring injury sustained last month and is expected to be available, but Ben Foster (groin), Ismaila Sarr (knee), Christian Kabasele (calf), Peter Etebo (quad) and Nicolas Nkoulou (hamstring) remain sidelined.

Watford provisional squad: Bachmann, Femenia, Troost-Ekong, Cathcart, Sierralta, Ngakia, Kucka, Sissoko, Hernandez, Cleverley, King, Dennis, Rose, Louza, Joao Pedro, Sema, Fletcher, Tufan, Elliot, Angelini

West Ham are without Declan Rice through suspension. The England midfielder collected his fifth booking of the season during the Boxing Day defeat by Southampton.

Defenders Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna and Kurt Zouma are still out injured.

West Ham provisional squad: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Diop, Johnson, Soucek, Lanzini, Fornals, Bowen, Antonio, Benrahma, Areola, Ashby, Baptiste, Masuaku, Noble, Kral, Vlasic, Yarmolenko.

How to follow

Follow Watford vs West Ham in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after full-time.

Last time out…

Opta stats

• Watford have lost four of their last five Premier League games against West Ham (W1), more than they had in their first nine against them in the competition (W4 D2 L3).
• West Ham have won their last three Premier League games against Watford, netting 10 goals in the process. The Hammers had only scored nine goals in their previous nine against the Hornets in the competition (W2 D2 L5).
• Watford won their last league game in both 2019 (vs Aston Villa) and 2020 (vs Norwich), last doing so in three consecutive calendar years between 2010 and 2012.
• West Ham have won their final league game in just one of the last 12 calendar years (D4 L7), beating Southampton 2-1 in 2015. When playing such games away from home, the Hammers are winless since 2003 (2-0 v Nottingham Forest), drawing three and losing six since.
• West Ham have already lost against Brentford this season, having lost just one of their 12 Premier League games against promoted sides in the last two campaigns combined (W7 D4). The Hammers last lost consecutive such matches in February/September 2018 (vs Brighton and Wolves).
• Watford have lost four of their last five Premier League home games (W1), as many as they had in their previous 15 at Vicarage Road in the competition. The Hornets are looking to avoid losing three consecutive home league games within the same top-flight season for the first time since 1987-88, a run of five between February and April.
• West Ham have lost three of their last four Premier League away games (D1), as many as they had in their previous 17 on the road (W10 D4 L3).
• Having won his first four Premier League games against West Ham boss David Moyes (all with Chelsea between 2002 and 2003), Watford’s Claudio Ranieri has failed to win either of his last two against the Scotsman in the competition (D1 L1), most recently a 2-1 loss with Leicester against Sunderland in December 2016.
• Emmanuel Dennis has been directly involved in nine goals in his last seven Premier League games for Watford (5 goals, 4 assists), having a hand in 64% of the goals the Hornets have scored in these games (9/14).
• Declan Rice has played 149 Premier League games for West Ham, and will become the 17th different player to reach 150 for the club in the competition. At 22 years and 348 days on the day of this game, he’ll be almost three years younger than the previous youngest player to reach the milestone for the Hammers (Mark Noble in 2013, 25y 267d).