Pointless Wolves travel to Watford in the hopes of kickstarting their season. Jake Pearson has previewed the match and fancies Bruno Lage's side to get their first win of the campaign.
Football betting tips: Premier League
1pt Wolves to win at 13/10 (General)
Watford fans would have been delighted with the first 69 minutes of football played by their team played in the Premier League this season, 3-0 up and cruising against Aston Villa.
Two goals for Villa took a bit of the sheen off that result though, and the Hornets have struggled to hit similar heights in their two succeeding matches.
Xisco Munoz’ men were woeful in their 2-0 defeat away at Brighton, mustering very little while conceding plenty of chances, and though a 1-0 loss to current league leaders Tottenham was far from disgraceful, again the Hornets struggled to carve out any real opportunities of note.
Kick-off time: 15:00 BST, Saturday
Watford 9/4 | Draw 11/5 | Wolves 13/10
Watford’s promotion campaign was one of narrow victories built on defence-first success, and their approach looks to have remained very much the same now in the top flight, the Hornets actually creating the second fewest chances in the Premier League this season according to Expected Goals; just 0.80 xGF per game.
Wolves on the other hand have been unfortunate in each of their three matches this season, and it seems only a matter of time before Bruno Lage’s side really kick into gear and begin to collect the points their overall performances deserve.
Though they are yet to score in the Premier League this season, only Manchester City, Liverpool and West Ham have created more chances than Wolves this season; Lage’s men averaging 2.0 xGF per game so far.
Considering the difficulty of their start to the season, facing three of last season’s top five, Wolves can be forgiven for picking up zero points from their opening matches, but against Leicester, Tottenham and particularly Manchester United they were arguably the better team.
Poor finishing has been a theme for Wolves so far, with Adama Traore the main culprit, but if they continue creating chances at the rate they are, the goals will come.
In Watford they face a team content to try and keep them at bay, but the Hornets are the home team, and there will be space for Wolves’ trademark counterattack in this match.
This is the shortest price Watford have been this season, and even against Norwich next week, albeit they are away, they are bigger than they are to beat Wolves.
Given what we have seen from these two this season, that seems incorrect.
Remove the points and focus solely on performances and Wolves have been impressive this term, while Watford have been unpredictable.
Both these sides rely on the pace of their counter attacking, but WOLVES are a much better side with better individual players, and when both teams are attempting to turn the match into a stalemate and rely on individual quality, siding with the team with the better quality of players is a no brainer.
Watford v Wolves best bets and score prediction
- 1pt Wolves to win at 13/10 (General)
Score prediction: Watford 0-2 Wolves (Sky Bet odds: 9/1)
Odds correct at 1500 BST (09/09/21)
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