Swansea City vs Watford. Premier League.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance20,430.
Tuesday 19 January 2016 08:43, UK
New head coach Francesco Guidolin will be in the stands to watch Swansea face Watford on Monday Night Football.
The former Udinese head coach will work alongside interim manager Alan Curtis until the end of the season, although the club have said the Italian "will have the final say on team selection".
Swansea will have Kyle Naughton available after he won his appeal against the red card he received at home to Sunderland on Wednesday.
Watford have lost three on the bounce in the league, but will also receive a boost in defence as Nathan Ake returns following his three-match ban for a red card received against Tottenham on December 28.
Team news
Naughton is available for the Swans, who have a fully-fit squad as they look to get the win that will move them out of the Premier League relegation zone.
The return of Ake is a lift for Quique Sanchez Flores as defenders Tommie Hoban (groin) and Joel Ekstrand (knee) remain sidelined.
The Hornets boss could freshen up his side following the defeat at Southampton on Wednesday night, when Craig Cathcart, Ikechi Anya and Victor Ibarbo all came off the bench.
Opta stats
Watford have scored exactly one goal in each of their last four visits to the Liberty Stadium in all competitions.
The Hornets have lost just one of their last five competitive away games against the Swans (W2 D2).
After winning four games in a row in the Premier League, Watford have now picked up just one point in their four games following this streak (W0 D1 L3).
Andre Ayew ended a run of six league games without scoring or assisting by netting in Swansea's last match against Sunderland.
Watford have not lost four successive Premier League games since May 2000.
Swansea are 11 points worse off from 21 games this season (19) than they were last season (30).
Paul Merson's prediction
As I said on Sky Sports News HQ on Thursday morning, Swansea are on a glass mountain with slippers on and they're just sliding, sliding and sliding. I can't see it stopping.
I just can't see where Swansea will turn this around. At the moment they are the team I would say are favourites to go down with Aston Villa. That's how bad it's got for them. It's a disaster and I just can't see how selling one of your best players to a relegation rival helps? It doesn't make any sense to me.
Watford had a disappointing result at Southampton but I do think they are a good team. Therefore, I can see a 2-1 away win at the Liberty on Monday with Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo, who I think will score the first goal, causing all the problems for Curtis' side.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2
Betting
Swansea are 6/4 with Sky Bet with Watford 2/1 and the draw 21/10 on Monday Night Football. The Swans have picked up only five points from the 18 available since Alan Curtis took charge so Watford to win with both teams scoring will appeal at odds of 6/1. Soccer Saturday pundits Charlie Nicholas and Matt Le-Tissier and Sky Sports football pundit Jamie Redknapp are all predicting a draw. Check out their tips here.
