Wolves To Get The Better Of Watford At Wembley In FA Cup Semi Final Sunday – Manager Comments. Team News and Stats.
By: Marc Gingell
07-04-2019 KO: 16:00 – REF: M Oliver
Watford v Wolverhampton Wanderers
These two teams are very much the best of the rest outside the Premier Leagues top six. Wolves have beaten Manchester United twice plus Liverpool, Chelsea, and Spurs. They’ve also drawn with Manchester City and Arsenal. On the other side, Huddersfield beat them twice!
Whilst Wolves were beating Manchester United on Tuesday Watford sent Fulham down with a 4-1 win but they will find Wolves defense tougher to crack.
Watford Team News
- Unknown Return Date: Tom Cleverley Calf injury.
- 75% Chance of Playing: Isaac Success Knock. Adalberto Peñaranda Hamstring injury.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Team News
- No injuries or suspensions but John Ruddy is expected to take over in goal from Rui Patrício as he normally does for cup games.
Opta Stats
- This will be the eighth FA Cup match between Watford and Wolves, with the Hornets winning just one of the seven previous encounters – a 3-0 victory in the fifth round in February 1980.
- Wolves’ second biggest FA Cup victory came against Watford back in January 1912, thrashing the then non-League outfit 10-0 in a first round replay.
- Watford have only lost one of their last five matches against Wolves in all competitions (W2 D2), a 0-1 defeat at Vicarage Road in December 2014 in the Championship.
- Wolves are playing in their 15th FA Cup semi-final and first since 1998. They’ve been eliminated each of the last four times they’ve reached this stage, last progressing in 1960 en-route to winning the trophy under Stan Cullis.
- Watford will play their seventh FA Cup semi-final, only managing to progress on one previous occasion a 1-0 victory over Plymouth back during the 1983-84 campaign. Indeed, of sides to appear in at least five FA Cup semi-finals, Watford have the joint-lowest progression rate alongside Fulham (1/6 – 17%).
- Wolves have won their last six games at Wembley Stadium – only Arsenal (seven between May 2014 and May 2017) and Tottenham (seven between January-March 2018) have won more consecutively at the ground.
Prediction
Wolves have been my ‘Dark Horse’ for the cup this season and new record signing Raúl Jiménez could prove to be the difference between these two sides.
Watford 0 – 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
