This is a match the star-filled Aston Villa squad should be picking 3 points from. Watford, with their huge offensive problems (1 scored goal in last 5 rounds), looks as the perfect opponent to get back to winning ways for Steven Gerrard & Co.

Thus far the Liverpool legend has not enjoyed a positive spell in Birmingham, delivering mixed results and never hitting a stride. Their current form, in fact, should be leaving the manager concerned and this is another reason, why expect a special approach towards this game. With just 1 win from 7 competitive fixtures, Aston Villa must be particularly hungry for triumph.

Squad news are positive for hosts - big summer signing Leon Bailey is fully fit and is tipped to start; both English strikers, Ings and Watkins, are available, albeit out of form.

2 signature winter additions, left fullback Digne and attacking winger Countiho, have yet to make an impact and should be keen to show their worth in front of home fans.

Villa deserved better in their last game vs. Newcastle (0-1) and by all means had to avoid a loss.

Watford made an attempt to break their fall to the Championship, when the veteran 74 year old manager Roy Hodgson was given the job instead of another fellow veteran - Claudio Ranieri. The Italian miraculously lasted just a few months in charge - from October 2021 to late January 2022. As a result Hodgson became Watfords 3rd (!) head coach in this campaign. So one would easily imagine what sort of mess the team’s gameplay is at this stage after a triple manager change. On of that, Watford already has the weakest roster in the competition. This being said, the task before Hodgson is impossible, in my opinion.

I am expecting a quite comfortable home win in a low scoring game tonight.

这是一场星光熠熠的阿斯顿维拉队应该拿到3分的比赛。沃特福德有着巨大的进攻问题（过去 5 轮打进 1 球），看起来是让杰拉德的球队重回胜利之路的完美对手。

到目前为止，这位利物浦传奇人物在伯明翰的表现并不乐观，取得了喜忧参半的结果，而且从未大步向前。事实上，他们目前的状态主教练确实有风险，这是为什么我期望对这场比赛采取特殊的态度。在 7 场比赛中仅取得 1 场胜利，阿斯顿维拉一定特别渴望胜利。

球队信息对主队来说是积极的——夏季签下的莱昂·贝利完全健康，有望首发；英国前锋英斯和沃特金斯都可以上场，尽管他们状态不佳。

2 名标志性的冬季新援，左后卫迪涅和进攻边锋康蒂霍，尚未产生影响，应该会期待于在主场球迷面前展示他们的价值。

维拉上一场对阵纽卡斯尔值得更好的结果，无论如何都必须避免输球。

沃特福德试图打破他们在联赛的失利，74 岁的老将罗伊·霍奇森代替了另一位老将克劳迪奥·拉涅利 (Claudio Ranieri)成为主教练。这位意大利人只执教了几个月——从 2021 年 10 月到 2022 年 1 月下旬。因此，霍奇森在本赛季成为沃特福德的第三位主教练。很容易想象，在三人换帅后，这个阶段球队的比赛会是怎样的一团糟。除此之外，沃特福德是英超阵容最弱的球队。话虽如此，在我看来，霍奇森面前的任务是不可能的。

我预测维拉主场轻松取胜。