Watford vs Swansea Prediction: Welsh side can heap misery on hosts

With the teams at the bottom of the table in excellent form, mid-table duo Watford and Swansea will be anxiously looking over their shoulders. The two meet at Vicarage Road on Wednesday night (19:45, Sky Sports Red Button), knowing that a defeat could suck them further into the mire. 

Valerien Ismael is coming under increasing pressure, as Watford struggle to find any sort of form. The Hornets gave him a new contract in early October, to the surprise of many, but now it feels like a tipping point for his future at the club. This game against Swansea could have huge consequences for his tenure, while Luke Williams appears to be finding his rhythm in the opposite dugout. 

Below is our Watford vs Swansea prediction, including a couple of betting tips, team news and match odds.

Team News

Watford’s Giorgi Chakvetadze is fit and will be in the squad against Swansea. However, Jeremy Ngakia suffered a knee injury on Saturday, and will now miss the next four weeks in a huge blow for the Hornets. Ryan Andrews will start at right back, having replaced Ngakia at the Den. 

Jamie Paterson went off injured for Swansea in the win over Blackburn so may miss this one, while Joe Allen and Matt Grimes are expected to continue in midfield after impressive performances. Williams has no other injury concerns to deal with at this moment in time.

Match Odds

Watford are the favourites to win this game, priced at 6/5 to take all three points. That gives them an implied win probability of 45 per cent, while Swansea are available to back at 11/5. A draw is 12/5, over 2.5 goals is 5/6 and BTTS is 4/6. 

Swansea to win @ 11/5

The two bets I’ve put forward are similar, but offer excellent value in my eyes. Going into this one, I simply cannot see how you can back Watford, especially at their current price of 6/5.

The club are currently in a downward spiral, that Ismael seems unable to pull them out of and in my eyes, this only ends one way. In their last eight league games, Watford have only managed one win, and that was a 1-0 home success against one of the worst sides we have ever seen at this level, in Rotherham United. 

They lost last time out at Millwall, and have lost their last three on the bounce at Vicarage Road. With the majority of the crowd wanting Ismael to go, the toxic atmosphere could leak onto the pitch if they lose again here. Meanwhile, with a couple of injuries, this could be another long night for the Watford faithful. 

Swansea to win both halves @ 10/1

Now the Watford negativity is out of the way, let’s focus on the Swansea positives. They may be two points behind Watford in the table, but the mood is very different in south Wales. It feels like Williams has finally turned a corner after arriving from Notts County. 

The Swans have now won back-to-back games, against Sunderland and Blackburn respectively, and have scored twice in both of those wins. When you consider they also beat Hull away from home before successive defeats to Ipswich and Leeds, his new side have now picked up nine points from a possible 15. 

I think his side are far better placed to win this game than Watford are, and hopefully the injury to Paterson isn’t serious. I believe they will go on and win this game, while the 10/1 on offer for them to win both halves is just too good to turn down. If the Hornets concede early, they could implode. 

Check out our other Football Betting Tips here.