Watford vs Arsenal preview | Injury blow for Emery | Expected line-up’s | Prediction

Arsenal will look to get back to winning ways when we take on Watford at Vicarage Road on Sunday afternoon. 

After collecting a maximum six points from our opening two matches of the new season, Arsenal have stumbled in recent games having lost at Liverpool before coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Tottenham at the Emirates before the international break.

Seven points from 12 isn’t a terrible return for the Gunners but Unai Emery will be desperate to get back on track with a win at Watford tomorrow to stay in touch with the leading pack in the Premier League.

We’ll face a Watford side who changed their manager during the international break with Quique Sanchez Flores brought back to the club to replace Javi Garcia – who was sacked following a poor start to the season that saw him collect just one point from four games.

Team news

Arsenal have been dealt a huge blow ahead of the trip to Vicarage Road as Alexandre Lacazette has been ruled out for several weeks with a niggling ankle injury that’s hampered him since pre-season.

Rob Holding is on the verge of making his long awaited comeback from a knee injury but Emery may save the centre-back for the Europa League trip to Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday night after he turned out for the U23s on Friday.

Nicolas Pepe, Granit Xhaka, Joe Willock and Lucas Torreira are all available despite injury scares during the break but Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney aren’t ready for selection yet having only just returned to full training.

Watford will assess Craig Cathcart ahead of the game after he sustained a thigh injury while playing for Northern Ireland while Troy Deeney will miss the game due to a knee injury.

Danny Welbeck may start against his former club having left Arsenal to join Watford on a free transfer this summer.

Expected line-ups

Prediction

Watford 1-2 Arsenal: We have an excellent record against Watford having won five of our last six trips to Vicarage Road and we should be confident of collecting another three points tomorrow afternoon. The Hornets sit bottom of the table after a poor start and although a change in manager may give them something of a lift, I still expect Arsenal to be too strong. I’m backing the boys to edge it 2-1.