Bristol City vs Watford Prediction: Booking for Brazilian in Bristol?

Friday night’s Championship game comes to us from Ashton Gate, as two play-off hopefuls meet in the form of Bristol City and Watford (20:00 GMT, Sky Sports Football). 

The Robins secured an impressive three points at Blackburn in midweek, while Watford were beaten by title-chasing Ipswich Town. Below you can find my Bristol City vs Watford predictions featuring team news and more. 

Team News

After a decent win over Blackburn, Gerhard Struber would want to name an unchanged XI if possible on Friday night. However Rob Atkinson was taken off with a nasty looking injury and may miss out, with Neto Borges likely to come in at left back, allowing Cam Pring to shuffle over to centre-back with Noah Eile.

Tomi Horvat may continue in the 10 with Scott Twine off the left, while Max Bird is likely to have to settle for a place on the bench given the strong form of Sam Morsy and Jason Knight. 

Football Odds

Watford boss Ed Still may rotate his options after a 2-0 defeat to Ipswich in midweek. Jeremy Pitris and Giorgi Chakvetadze were withdrawn at half-time and may lose their starting spots to substitutes Jeremy Ngakia and Edoardo Bove.

Tom Ince came off the bench and missed a penalty, while Mamadou Doumbia may be handed a start ahead of Luca Kjerrumgaard. 

Today's Football Fixtures

Bristol City vs Watford Odds

Bristol City are 11/8 to win this game, with Watford the 15/8 underdogs on Friday night. That gives the hosts an implied win probability of 42%, while a draw is 23/10. 

Over 2.5 goals is 10/11, BTTS is 4/6 and Emil Riis is the 5/1 favourite to open the scoring.

Draw @ 23/10

Bristol City haven’t won back-to-back games since the end of December, and so despite their midweek win against relegation-threatened Blackburn, I’m not convinced the team pushing for the play-offs can find another win. 

Their home form has also been unpredictable, and since they hammered Portsmouth 5-0 the Robins have only won one of their last four at Ashton Gate - and that came against Sheffield Wednesday. Watford are a competitive mid-table outfit with plenty of attacking talent, and one win, one loss and one draw in their last three sums them up right now. 

Can’t call this one, so that usually makes a draw a good pick. 

Neto Borges to get booked @ 13/5

The left-sided player is likely to have to play at left-back or left wing-back in this one, and his forward-thinking style of play could mean he gets caught out at Ashton Gate. He’s been booked four times this season, but they’ve come in his last nine starts for the club, and he’s had to play in defence on three of those occasions. 

With more defensive work to do, especially up against Nestory Irankunda or Chakvetadze, I think he’s in for a pretty long night and could well find himself booked early on. 

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