Watford vs Crystal Palace. Premier League.
Vicarage RoadAttendance20,304.
Monday 26 December 2016 23:56, UK
Sam Allardyce takes charge of Crystal Palace for the first time when they travel to Vicarage Road to take on Watford on Boxing Day, live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 12pm.
Palace appointed the former England boss as their new manager on a two-and-a-half-year deal on Friday, one day after sacking Alan Pardew.
Pardew lost his job with Palace after just one win from their last 11 league matches and Allardyce has already said his first task will be to tighten up a defence that has leaked 32 goals in 17 Premier League matches this season.
Meanwhile, Watford will be looking to continue their solid home form having won four of their last six matches in front of their own fans.
Team news
Watford duo Sebastian Prodl and Stefano Okaka could be fit to take their places on the bench against Palace.
Defender Prodl and striker Okaka, who are suffering from a dead leg and a hamstring injury respectively, have returned to light training and face fitness tests.
Defender Craig Cathcart returned to the bench for the defeat against Sunderland having recovered from a groin problem, but is unlikely to start.
Crystal Palace hope to have Mathieu Flamini available for the trip to Watford.
The France midfielder has trained this week after missing the 1-0 loss to Chelsea with a groin injury.
A number of players have nursed knocks, while long-term injured players James Tomkins, Connor Wickham, Bakary Sako, Loic Remy, Pape Souare and Steve Mandanda remain out.
Opta stats
Watford lost two of their three meetings against Crystal Palace last season, including a 0-1 defeat at Vicarage Road in the league.
Palace have played Watford twice before on Boxing Day in their history, winning 2-0 in 1949 but losing by the same scoreline in 1952.
Crystal Palace have won twice in seven previous Premier League games on Boxing Day - versus Wimbledon in 1992 and Aston Villa in 2013 (D3 L2).
The Hornets haven't won a top-flight league game on Boxing Day since 1986, where they beat rivals Luton Town 2-0.
Troy Deeney scored all three of Watford's competitive goals against Crystal Palace last season.
Deeney is currently on a run of 10 appearances without a goal for Watford. He hasn't gone 11 successive apps without a goal (in all comps) for the Hornets since October 2011.
Crystal Palace have won only six league games in 2016 - this is their joint-lowest tally of league wins in a single calendar year (in the Football League system), level with 1962 and 1973.
Merson's predictions
This is going to be a hard game. Both teams need to win. I just don't see it with Palace at the minute, they are a funny team. In fairness, Watford are exactly the same! This is the sort of game where I wouldn't be surprised if either team won.
With that in mind, I'm going to sit on the fence. I hope Troy Deeney can finally get his 100th Watford goal, he's been stuck on 99 for weeks! He's a goalscorer and if he scores first, Watford will get a result, of that I'm certain. If Palace do, they will hold on for the win.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1 (Sky Bet odds 5/1)
Betting
Watford are 13/10 favourites to win Boxing Day's early Premier League game against 21/10 shots Crystal Palace. The draw is 23/10. Watford are 3/1 to win by exactly one goal, and 9/4 to win 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1. Troy Deeney and Christian Benteke head the first goalscorer betting, both available at 5/1, while Odion Ighalo and Stefano Okaka are both 6/1 with Fraizer Campbell a 15/2 shot. It's 25/1 for Deeney, Benteke and Etienne Capoue all to score.
Watch Watford v Crystal live on Boxing Day from 12pm, Sky Sports 1 HD. Sky Q 2TB customers can watch the game in Ultra HD. Visit www.skysports.com/uhd for details.
