Match Pack: Watford

At A Glance

The 2021/22 Premier League season is upon us and a trip to Vicarage Road is the first stop on Aston Villa’s schedule.

After a successful summer recruitment drive, Dean Smith will be hoping his side can make a positive start against the recently-promoted Hornets, with Villa having won their first four league matches last season.

Pre-season yielded three wins from four games as new signings like Ashley Young and Emi Buendía bedded into the team seamlessly.

Villa won more points on their travels than they did at Villa Park last season, and their away resilience will face a stern test against a club galvanised by promotion from the Championship.

Manager Xisco Munoz was appointed midway through last season, leading them to 17 wins in the final 24 league games and securing the second automatic promotion spot.

The Hornets have made a host of additions over the summer as they look avoid a repeat of their last season in the top flight when they finished 19^th.

Standout Stats

This will be the first-ever meeting between Watford and Aston Villa on the opening day of a league season. The Hornets have won six of their previous 10 home league games against Villa (D3 L1).

Watford have lost their opening league match in just one of the last 14 seasons (W7 D6) since losing six consecutive such games between 2001/02 and 2006/07. Their one defeat in the last 14 seasons came at home to Brighton and Hove Albion in 2019/20 (3-0).

Aston Villa have won their first Premier League match in four of the last five seasons, winning 1-0 against Sheffield United last season. However, they have only won one of their four opening day Premier League matches against newly-promoted teams (D1 L2), a 1-0 away win at Bournemouth in 2015/16.

Watford had the best home record in the top four tiers of English football last season, picking up 59 points from their 23 games (W19 D2 L2). The Hornets have also won six of their last 11 at Vicarage Road in the Premier League (D2 L3), including a 3-0 win over Aston Villa in that run.

Watford have won their last nine home league games, their best ever home winning streak in their Football League history. They’ve won each of their last seven league matches at Vicarage Road without conceding – the last team to have a longer run of consecutive home league wins while keeping a clean sheet each time in England’s top four tiers was Chelsea in 2010 (9).

Aston Villa finished last season with consecutive Premier League wins against Tottenham and Chelsea. The Villans last won more consecutively in their opening four games of 2020/21.

Xisco will be the ninth different manager to take charge of a Premier League game for Watford – none of the previous eight have won their first such game at the helm for the Hornets (D4 L4, excluding second spells).

The Last Meeting

Aston Villa fought back to beat Watford and move out of the Premier League relegation zone on a dramatic night at Villa Park in January 2020.

Troy Deeney gave the visitors a half-time lead before Douglas Luiz slammed home from close range to level the scores.

And with the game headed for a draw in injury time, Ezri Konsa’s shot flicked off Tyrone Mings and past Ben Foster to secure a vital three points.

Team News

Ollie Watkins (knee) will be assessed ahead of the encounter, Emi Buendía has recovered from a slight injury and trained all week while fellow summer signing Leon Bailey is also available having arrived at Bodymoor Heath.

The Hornets will be without Joao Pedro (knee), Joshua King (groin) and Nathaniel Chalobah (illness) but Adam Masina and Domingos Quina are available.

The Boss