Football: Watford Fancied at 12/5 to Win at Burnley
Monumental barely begins to do justice to the magnitude of Burnley’s home clash with Watford on Saturday.
It is the only Premier League game of the weekend with the FA Cup fourth round taking centre stage.
Defeat does not bear thinking about for Sean Dyche’s side, who currently lie bottom of the table with just 12 points.
Significantly, however, they have games in hand on all their rivals and a victory for the Clarets would breathe so much new life into their survival bid.
It would take them above Watford and level on 15 points with third-bottom Newcastle United.
With Everton still sitting nervously in 16th place on 19 points, a Burnley win over the Hornets really would blow the relegation scrap wide open.
Dyche’s troops are 6/5 to with bet365 prevail in this weekend’s six-pointer.
Roy Hodgson, meanwhile, will take charge of his first game since succeeding Claudio Ranieri as Watford manager.
The Hornets’ last game was an abject 3-0 surrender at home to another relegation rival in Norwich City.
Hodgson’s men are 12/5 with BetVictor to win at Turf Moor and, given the old adage about the new manager giving a team a bounce, the smart money might be on the Hornets.
The Clarets have won only once at home all season and Hodgson will relish the opportunity to get off to a winning start and give his new club’s survival prospects a massive lift.
Hodgson, who proved such a resounding success at Crystal Palace before leaving the club last summer, becomes Watford’s 11th manager to take charge of them in the Premier League.
The 74-year-old, the oldest boss in Premier League history, spoke about mermaids and ships at his pre-match press conference this week.
“This job was one I was never going to turn down because it was quite literally the siren call from the mermaid as the sailor passes by on his ship,” he said. “They got the right mermaid going past the right ship.”
Hodgson should add some steel to the Hornets and you can get 40/1 with Coral for Burnley to be leading at the interval and Hodgson’s new team to win it in the second half.