Ninth placed Liverpool travel to seventh placed Watford to play the newly promoted side. Rush The Kop’s Liverpool predicted XI.
If it weren’t for Leicester City, Watford would be endlessly praised. They’d be the romantic underdog tail kicking it near the top of the table with the English giants. They’re in seventh place as a newly promoted side in their last match before Christmas.
Watford gained automatic promotion to the Premier League largely off the goals of their strikers Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo. The pair had 41 goals in the Championship.
In England’s top division, Watford has excelled to the top half of the table largely off the goals of their strikers Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo. The pair currently has 15 goals.
The duo has made the jump in quality seamlessly. It’s borderline astonishing. It’s also astonishing how the club got their star men.
Ighalo was in the Norwegian first division, brought to Italy, regularly loaned out until he landed at Watford on loan. His current club terminated his loan early so Udinese could release the Nigerian from his contract so Watford could sign him back on a free, permanent transfer.
Okay, maybe Ighalo’s capture was much more astonishing than Deeney’s. Deeney astonishment came before he turned professional. When he was 15, he was offered a four day trial at Aston Villa. He only showed up for day four.
Why? He wanted to “go to the park where the girls were.” Yeah. He then went to Walsall, played well and handed in a transfer request where Watford signed him for a deal that, with add ons, rose to half a million pounds.
The Liverpool defense (and Lucas Leiva) get their first crack at the Premier League’s beta version of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez before playing the full version of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez on Boxing Day.
Liverpool got an unusual week break between games. The last time Jurgen Klopp went a week or more between matches, they beat Manchester City 4-1. Just sayin’.
James Milner has been ruled out due to a calf injury and reports are gathering steam that Simon Mignolet has picked up a hamstring injury. I hope he was practicing his kicking when the muscle went.
Klopp has decisions on his hands in the front part of his team: how does he get the best out of Christian Benteke and Roberto Firmino? Can they play together, along with Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana? Is Firmino a false nine or an attacking midfielder? Can Benteke play Klopp’s full throttle football? Does Divock Origi get a start after his (deflected) heroics?
Against Watford Klopp will begin to use trial and error to crack these mysteries. For now, enjoy Rush The Kop’s Liverpool predicted XI.
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