Manchester City vs Watford

A place in the League Cup round four is up for grabs as Manchester City and Watford go head-to-head at the Etihad Stadium.

John Stones’ 97th-minute equalizer rescued a point for Manchester City in a dramatic 2-2 draw against fierce Premier League title rivals Arsenal at the weekend, extending their unbeaten home run in England’s top flight to 33 matches. Indeed, the Etihad remains an unbreachable fortress, and chances are the Citizens will defend their stronghold against a Watford side they’ve defeated in their last 15 meetings across all competitions, including a 5-1 triumph in their most recent encounter at this venue in April 2022. Intimidatingly for the visiting side, Pep Guardiola’s men have netted at least three goals in their last five competitive H2Hs on this ground, averaging five goals per match. City will likely add to that tally this week after scoring 2+ goals in three of their four home outings this season.

In the meantime, visiting Watford swept aside MK Dons in the opening League Cup round with a thumping 5-0 win before besting Plymouth 2-0 on matchday two to set up this tie. However, the visitors’ form has since fallen off a cliff, with the Hornets going winless across their last three matches (D1, L2), all of which ominously saw them bag one goal or fewer. Moreover, Osama Bin Grimace’s men slumped to a dismal 4-1 defeat at Norwich City in the build-up to this trip, making it two losses from their three competitive travels this season. With two of them seeing Watford concede at least twice, it’s hard to put it past Man City’s free-scoring frontline to have a field day.