Watford vs Oxford Prediction, Odds and Betting Tips: Home comforts for the Hornets

Friday's dose of Championship football comes from Vicarage Road where top-6 Watford host 16th-placed Oxford, live on Sky Sports at 8pm.

Watford's inconsistency is reflected in a return of four wins and four defeats from their last eight games. Two wins in a row, including a 6-2 thumping away to Sheffield Wednesday, was swiftly punctured by a 1-0 defeat at Swansea.

Despite this, the Hornets remain in the play-off places and I'm backing them to bounce back with a win at 17/20 on home soil, where they have won seven and lost zero of their eight league and cup matches this season. No other club in the Championship club has garnered more points than Watford's 16 from a possible 18 on their own patch.

In contrast, visiting Oxford make the trip to London without an away win this season. The travel-shy U's have picked up just two points from 18 on the road, having failed to win any of their six games, and face a tough task to reverse that slump at Vicarage Road.

Ryan Porteous has committed the highest number of fouls (18) and accumulated the most yellow cards (5) among all players that are expected to take to the field on Friday night.

This season he's averaging a yellow card every other game. He's picked up five bookings in his last eight matches which led to a suspension during the mid-week loss against Swansea.

The defender is rapidly chasing down his return of 15 yellow cards from last season, having also been sent off while representing Scotland at Euro 2024.

In three of Porteous' last four starts, he has committed three fouls, and he has received bookings in three of his last four home fixtures. It is therefore not surprising that he is favoured at 19/10 to be shown another yellow card on his return to the starting-11 on Friday night.

Watford vs Oxford Lineups

The full starting lineups for the game will be displayed in the graphic below.