Manchester City – Watford

The champion Manchester City welcomes Watford in a game from the sixth round of the Premier League. After a long travel to Ukraine to meet Shakhtar in the Champions League, now Pep Guardiola’s boys are back to business in their domestic challenge.

Man City will try to bounce back after what happened against Norwich City at the Carrow Road last week. The Cityzens shockingly conceded their first defeat for the season, getting beaten by one of the newcomers in the division. Because of this, right now City are already five points behind their main rival for the title Liverpool.

After the loss against Norwich, Pep Guardiola said that it’s too early to make conclusions about the title race. And he’s right, of course. It’s just September after all. But it’s also true that Manchester City can’t afford to make any mistakes now.

Guardiola’s main problems are related to the defense. Aymeric Laporte and John Stones are currently injured, which means that City are currently short of defenders. Because of this, Fernandinho played as a centra defender against Shakhtar Donetsk during the weekend.

Watford are at the bottom of the table with just two points won so far. The Hornets already sacked the manager Javi Gracia, replacing him with Quique Sanchez Flores. He debuted for the club last week, winning a point with a 2-2 draw against Watford at home.

At halftime Watford were two goals behind against Arsenal, but the Gunner’s awful performance in defense allowed the hosts to equalise. Tom Cleverly equalised for Watford, while Roberto Pereyra from a penalty kick secured a point for the Hornets.

This is going to be a tactical duel between two Spanish managers on Saturday. Manchester City are enormous favourites in this clash, while for Watford’s Quique Sanchez Flores this is going to be a first away home since his appointment.