Watford v Manchester City Vicarage Road 5.30 p.m. Saturday 2nd January 2016 please log in to view this image The Opposition Manchester City was founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894. The club moved to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003, having played at Maine Road since 1923. Previously the club's most successful period was in the late 1960s and early 1970s when they won the League Championship, FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup under the management team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. After losing the 1981 FA Cup Final, the club went through a period of decline, culminating in relegation to the third tier of English football for the only time in their history in 1998. Having regained Premier League status, the club was purchased in 2008 by Abu Dhabi United Group and has become one of the wealthiest in the world. In 2011, Manchester City qualified for the UEFA Champions League and won the FA Cup. The following year, they won the Premier League, their first league title for 44 years. In 2014, they won the League Cup and a second Premier League title. By 2013–14, Manchester City had the sixth-highest revenue in the footballing world with an annual revenue of €414.4 million, and were the world's fifth most valuable football team with an estimated valuation of $1.38 billion. The Manager please log in to view this image After cutting his teeth with several South American titles, Pellegrini gained his reputation as a world class coach in his spells turning both Villarreal and Malaga from relegation candidates into Champions League regulars, which brought him to Manchester City's attention. please log in to view this image Recent Form please log in to view this image Premiership Form Table = Watford are SECOND please log in to view this image Position in League please log in to view this image Head to Head Our overall record does not look bad until you look at when the results occurred. Our last of 6 wins was back in 1989 since when we have played 8 and lost 6 and drawn 2. Until then we had 6 wins, 3 draws and just 4 defeats. What a difference a billion or two make. please log in to view this image Our last Premiership meeting at Vicarage Road: 21st April 2007 : Watford became the first team to be relegated from the Premiership this season after drawing with Manchester City at Vicarage Road. The Hornets knew they needed victory to keep alive their slim survival hopes but could not break City down early on. City were gifted the lead when Ben Foster made a hash of a clearance and let Darius Vassell curl the ball home. Tamas Priskin (remember him ) drilled home an equaliser and Marlon King could have won it for Watford but he headed wide late on Match Officials Referee: Martin Atkinson Assistants: M Mullarkey and S Child 4th Offical: T Robinson Martin Atkinson (44) began his professional refereeing career at just 16 years of age and has risen through the ranks to become one of the most well respected officials in the Barclays Premier League. His first taste of refereeing in the top flight came when he was in the middle for Manchester City’s clash at Crystal Palace in the 2004/05 season. He has been a permanent fixture in the Barclays Premier League ever since and, after refereeing the 2006 FA Community Shield and 2008 FA Trophy Final, his most notable moment in English football came when he took charge of the 2011 FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Stoke City. The 2013 Championship Play-off Final between Crystal Palace and Watford was referred by Atkinson and he also officiated Manchester City's Capital One Cup Final triumph over Sunderland in 2014. Atkinson has been a FIFA-listed official since 2006 and is one of a handful of Select Group referees who is an Elite FIFA referee. He has also officiated Champions League matches as well as at Euro 2012, where he teamed up with fellow Select Group referee at the time, Howard Webb. Betting Manchester City are odds on to win at 3/4; Watford are 4/1 with a draw at 3/1 Team News - to come
City favoured in this one. Again a test of how good we are. We could... if things go our way get a point here.... and clearly could even steal it if we can defend well enough. Difficult to call as we are still finding our feet in this league. We may expect City to continue where they left off against us earlier in the season but we have really grown since then.
As long as we are competitive against these big teams, I am happy. I know that may lack ambition, but now it looks like we are pretty certain to stay up, everything is just a bonus for me. I want to enjoy these sort of games and not stress much about the results (although that didn't stop me tearing my hair out at Stamford Bridge!). Just hoping we don't lose 1-2 to a late goal again!
I agree with that F1. We can enjoy the matches and hope we get decent breaks and not too many rubbish refs. To be honest the hardest thing for us would be to actually qualify for Europe - we need some time to advance to that stage without facing the sort of problems Swansea have. Even teams like Spurs and Everton have found when they have the one-off season in the Champions League that their squads are not up to it.
To think that we are now saying that not qualifying for Europe this season would be a blessing in disguise! 2 seasons ago we felt the same thing about losing the Play-Off Final...... How times change.
It's true - we have moved on a lot - to be even THINKING about Europe was beyond our dreams in August Oh - and losing the play off final just may have been a blessing in disguise - I cannot believe we would have done this well 2 years earlier
Even Liverpool beat them ! We won 3-0 against Liverpool who beat City 4-1 !!!!!!! which makes us 6 goals better.
Back in Aug all the experts was saying " How can you not give a new contract to the guy that got you promoted" then bring in all these new players Watford will go down with the lowest points ever . There owners dont have a clue . The experts dont say much now LOL
They have only scored 1 goal away from home since September! Seems crazy with all the quality City have in attack. Hope that continues today...
I do hope we get something today - I have a feeling that for all our worries about the Christmas games we may have a few surprises coming up in January. The away trips to Southampton and Swansea will be far from easy and Newcastle in the league at home is unpredictable when you look at their results against Liverpool and Spurs - and then we are back to games against Spurs,Chelsea and Palace. Whoever said this was an easy league?
Yes i think we never really have discussed the post -xmas matches up to now... as we were all looking at the steep hill of the festive games....
It will be interesting - they always say the second half is tougher as teams have sussed the way you play - but I think our style is not so exceptional that teams need to suss us - they just haveto cope with our two front men and get the ball past our miserly defence. I still predict around 10th to 12th if all goes well
I think we have def got stronger and more confident.. and teams playing more conservatively against us. plus the fact that we can score at any time. Really dif to say..... should def now make top 12.......i would like to see more goals from other players... Jurado, Almen etc.... to feel more confident we can survive any lean spell from Ighalo
I was speaking to a Spurs supporting mate who was at the Vic on Saturday. He was impressed with the work rate and organisation of the team but questioned if we can keep it going all season. Will be interesting to see what QSF does in the window as I do think we need a bit of cover for certain players. Really looking forward to this evening - a great way to start the year.
