Wolves vs. Watford Predictions: A tight affair in the Premier League on Thursday

Wolverhampton Wanderers welcome Roy Hodgson’s Watford on Thursday night with both sides fighting a battle in their own rights, Bruno Lage’s men are amongst a handful of sides pushing for a European place whilst the Hornets are fighting to remain in the Premier League for a second successive season.

Since Hodgson’s appointment towards the end of January his side have accumulated five points from a possible twenty-one, which is a huge worry for a side sat 19th in the table. Defensively things have improved over the short period of time, however.

Wolves, bundled with Portuguese assets have struggled when it comes to playing at Molineux, over the thirteen matches at home the West Midlands based club have tallied just 17 points, winning only 38% of the time whilst coming away empty handed in six occasions.

Goals are somewhat scarce with the home team; just 22 have been scored in total within 1,170 minutes at an average of 1.69 per 90. Bruno Lage’s side has scored in just 38% whilst allowing a goal in 77% of matches in front of the home fans. 

Percentage wise this game is set to provide a dull affair, just 46% of matches have seen 2 or more goals being scored when these sides play at home and away respectively. Odds of 20/21 are on offer via William Hills “Build Your Odds” section for neither team to score on multiple occasions. Lage’s men have scored more than once in 4 separate matches in 13 with the Hornets registering this feat just 3 times on their travels.

In reverse the defensive capabilities of Wolves shine; just Crystal Palace and Brentford have bagged twice in games that both saw a penalty kick converted. Brentford, Brighton, Everton and Leicester are the only four of thirteen to net twice against last season’s Championship side with all those coming in 2021. Roy Hodgson’s appointment has certainly tightened things up defensively for the Hertfordshire based club, 10 goals conceded in 7 is certainly an improvement from the 43 they shipped in the previous 20.

It’s been a matter of who scores first wins from a Wolves perspective, only 2 of the 13 clashes have seen goalless draws. The visiting team have opened the scoring and gone on to take all three points on six outings, all to nil, with Wolves winning the remaining five. 

Following on from this particular trend with Wolves fixtures being hugely impacted by whoever takes the lead, the price being offered for the Hornets to walk away with maximum points including a clean sheet is 6.91 via the Betfair Bet Builder, which seems more than reasonable given that its banked in 6 games from 13 for the visiting teams.

Watford, alike their opponents have produced better results on the road this campaign, 12 points from a possible 39 isn’t exactly fantastic but in the previous five away trips, Watford have kept teams out on three separate occasions including a 1-0 win at Villa Park and a stalemate at Old Trafford.