Chelsea vs Watford Preview, Team News, Line-Ups & Predicted Score

Guus Hiddink will take charge of his first game as interim boss when Chelsea face Watford at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day.

The Dutchman was announced as the Blues interim boss last week following the departure of Jose Mourinho and he’s now been handed the task of salvaging something from what’s been a disastrous season for the defending champions so far.

Chelsea got themselves back on track with a 3-1 victory over Sunderland last weekend but despite that win, the West Londoners still sit 15th in the Premier League table and 11 points off fourth-placed Tottenham so Hiddink has a real job on his hands if he’s to maintain the clubs Champions League status.

Watford make the short trip to Stamford Bridge in buoyant mood following last weekends 3-0 victory over Liverpool which made it three wins on the bounce for Quique Sánchez Flores’ men.

That run of results has seen Watford climb up to seventh in the table and a full ten points clear of Chelsea so they will have eyes on breaking into the top four with a win this weekend.

Team news

Chelsea could welcome back Eden Hazard after the Belgian international returned to training following a minor hip injury that he sustained against Leicester City earlier this month.

Radamel Falcao is also back in training but it remains to be seen whether he’s deemed fit enough for a place on the bench just yet.

As for Watford, they’ll have to make do without defender Nathan Ake as he’s on loan from Chelsea so is therefore ineligible to play against his parent club.

Ikechi Anya could deputise in defence but Tommie Hoban and Joel Ekstrand remain sidelined through injury.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Chelsea 2-1 Watford: The Blues got back to winning ways last weekend and they played with a freedom not seen for several weeks. Watford have been in great form of late and could pose some problems to the hosts defence. However, I think Chelsea will do enough to secure the three points.

What do you think? What line-up would you like to see start?