Bombshell news dropped on Sunday afternoon for Watford FC, ahead of their titanic clash at home against Manchester City on Tuesday night. Nigel Pearson, their third manager this season, has been sacked and now they’ll be on manager number four for the last two games of the campaign.
Yes, you read that correctly. Hayden Mullins now takes over as interim boss, in a situation that is very puzzling to say the least. Pearson had been the most successful of the Hornets triad in 2019-20, putting up a 7-5-7 in his 22 matches in charge.
He led them out of the drop zone, at least for the time being, so you would think he’d get rewarded instead of being let go.
Watford head into this one just three points above relegation, so they are certainly not out of the woods yet. In looking at the other team news, for both sides, in this one, Manchester City have just one confirmed absentee. That’s leading scorer Sergio Aguero of course, but back-up goalkeeper Claudio Bravo is a doubt due to a muscular injury.
Expect plenty of squad rotation in this one. As for the Hornets, both Troy Deeney and Adam Masina hobbled off in the loss to West Ham United, but the team captain is expected to play; the latter maybe not.
Gerard Deulofeu and Daryl Janmaat remain long term absentees.
Manchester City at Watford FC FYIs
Kickoff: Tue July 21, 6pm, Vicarage Road
Starting XI Predictions for both sides: go to this link
TV: Sky Sports (UK), NBCSN (USA)
Records, Position: Watford 8-10-18, 17th Manchester City 24-3-9, 2nd
Referee: Michael Oliver
Prediction: Man City 3, Watford 0
While City have nothing to play for here, they still haven’t lost to Watford since 1989, when both were in the second division of English football.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.