Live on Sky: Watford vs Manchester United preview

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Watford vs Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.

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Team news

Watford manager Nigel Pearson expects to have Adam Masina and Roberto Pereyra - who had been suffering with minor injury problems - available for the Premier League game with Manchester United.

Jose Holebas (ankle) remains sidelined, along with long-term absentees Tom Cleverley (heel), Danny Welbeck (hamstring), Sebastian Prodl, and Daryl Janmaat (both knee), while new signing Joao Pedro is ineligible to make his debut until January.

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Paul Pogba remains absent for Manchester United. The 26-year-old has only made six appearances this season due to an ankle injury but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has not given up on the midfielder returning before the end of 2019.

Diogo Dalot will play for Man Utd's youth side against their AC Milan counterparts on Friday as the full-back builds fitness, while Eric Bailly and Timothy Fosu-Mensah were due to start full training this week. Marcos Rojo is also continuing to build his fitness.

How to follow

Watford vs Man Utd is live on Renault Super Sunday from 1pm; kick-off 2pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.

Live Renault Super Sunday

• How to watch Premier League highlights
• Live football on Sky Sports this week

Opta stats

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• After going six league games unbeaten against Manchester United between 1984-1986 (W2 D4), Watford have lost 14 of their last 15 against the Red Devils in the top-flight (W1).
• Manchester United have won 11 of their 12 Premier League meetings with Watford (92 per cent) - only against Wigan (15/16; 94 per cent) do they have a higher win rate in the competition (min. 10 meetings).
• No side are currently on a longer run without a Premier League clean sheet than Manchester United (12 games). The Red Devils last had a longer run without a clean sheet in the top-flight between September 1970-February 1971 (21 games).
• Following their 2-1 win at Man City in their last away game, Man Utd are looking for back-to-back away league wins for the first time since February. They've lost just one of their last nine away games against sides starting the day bottom (W7 D1), going down 1-2 against Wolves in February 2011.

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• Watford have won just nine points in their first 17 Premier League matches this season; each of the previous nine occasions a team has won fewer than 10 points in their first 17 matches has seen them go on to be relegated.
• Watford have converted just 4.7 per cent of their shots in to goals in the Premier League this season (nine goals from 197 shots); this is the worst ratio by a Premier League side in a single season since Sunderland in 2002-03 (also 4.7 per cent). The Black Cats finished bottom of the table in that campaign.
• Manchester United's last direct free-kick goal in the Premier League came exactly a year ago on the day of this game (22nd December 2018 vs Cardiff). Since then, the Red Devils have had 31 shots from direct free-kicks, more than any other side in the competition.

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• Watford have failed to score in a league-high 10 Premier League games this season. The Hornets had only failed to find the net in 10 of their 38 games in the competition last term.
• Watford boss Nigel Pearson's only previous home Premier League match against Man Utd was in September 2014, winning 5-3 with Leicester City. Only six managers have won their first two home games against the Red Devils in the Premier League, most recently Antonio Conte in 2017.
• Marcus Rashford has scored 10 Premier League goals this season (one more than Watford) - the last Man Utd player to score more before Christmas in a Premier League campaign was Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2016-17 (11).

Charlie's prediction

• Thommo's Six Appeal

I think Watford are already gone. Six points is the gap and we are only two games away from the halfway stage in terms of Premier League campaign. Man Utd have picked up, there is no doubt about that, but there is a vulnerability there. It has improved, and because of that Man Utd will get through it, but it will not be plain sailing here.

CHARLIE PREDICTS: 1-2 (15/2 with Sky Bet)

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