Watford v Palace

Vicarage Road, Saturday 3.00pm

Crystal Palace

Team news

Watford’s form has improved dramatically in recent weeks, with a win away to Coventry last Sunday putting the Hornets in 12th place.

However amongst all the enthusiasm of Watford fans, manager Luca Vialli has remained calm saying, "I don't want to get excited about recent form," an ex team mate of Palace legend Lombardo, Vialli explained. "It has been nothing special. I just want to show good consistency and get good results. There is no reason to celebrate just because we are a little bit better."

Although things have been going well recently Vialli does have a few injury problems to worry aboutahead of Saturday’s game.

Fellow Italian Filippo Galli is still injured. He is recovering from a calf injury, however, he is still not fully fit and so will not play on Saturday. Another player who will not feature is Stephen Hughes who is currently suffering from a groin problem.

The Hornets boss will be pleased to see that both Lee Cook and Allan Nielsen came through a reserve team game with Fulham without suffering any set-backs, however they are unlikely to make the starting line up Saturday.

After losing 1-0 away to Birmingham in midweek Trevor Francis will want to secure his second winas Palace manager against Watford.

Francis will be pleased to have Irish international Clinton Morrison back in the starting lineup after he missed Tuesday night’s trip to St. Andrews due to a groin problem.

A big blow to Palace will be the loss of left-winger Julian Gray as he serves a one-match ban after picking up his 5th yellow card of the season. The left side has been a problem position for some time now and alternatives to Gray are scarce. The most likely option is a return to the starting line up of Craig Harrison who only made the bench on Tuesday, however Francis could play Simon Rodger on the left wing with Steve Thomson slotting into the central midfield role.

Matt Clarke will once again be missing after he fell over coming out of a restaurant and cut his finger. This means that Latvia's number one, Alex Kolinko, will once again take his place between the sticks with youngster Lance Cronin promoted to the subs bench.

Meanwhile both Aussie defender Tony Popovic and Scottish midfield David Hopkin are both recovering from injuries while Gregg Berhalter is away on international duty with the U.S.A. and so will all miss the trip to Vicarage Road.

Watford - league stats

Full league table

Watford - current form

Full form table

Our away record v Watford

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
07/04/2001	League	Watford	2 - 2	Crystal Palace
09/12/2000	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 0	Watford
24/04/1999	League	Watford	2 - 1	Crystal Palace
28/11/1998	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 2	Watford
17/02/1996	League	Crystal Palace	4 - 0	Watford

All time results

One to watch

Tommy Smith

The tricky forward has come into his own this season and is already on course to break his top scoring season of 9 goals, with his 8 goals already this season. A confident young forward, his touch and skill make him a handful for any defenders and Palace will have to work hard to keep him quiet on Saturday.

Last meeting

English Division 1

Watford 2 (0) Nielsen 77 Mooney 79 C Palace 2 (1) Austin 15 (p) Black 90 07-04-2001

Watford: Baardsen, Cox (Vernazza ,65 ), Robinson, Page, Palmer, Ward, Nielsen, Mooney, Wooter (Hyde,46), Noel-Williams, Smith Subs not used: Chamberlain, Smart, Helguson,

C Palace: Kolinko, Upson, Austin, Fan Zhiyi, Harrison, Hopkin, Mullins, Rodger (Black,50), Riihilahti, Fuller (Forssell,82), Morrison (Freedman,82) Subs not used: Berhalter, Verhoenen,

Bookings: Page (Watford) Riihilahti (C Palace)

Attendance: 15598

Referee: S W Mathieson

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