Watford V West Brom at Vicarage Road Stadium : Match Preview

14 August 2015 13:31
Watford V West Brom - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Flores wary of 'physical' Baggies

Watford head coach Quique Flores has told his players to be ready for high balls and a physical battle as they aim to secure their first win of the season against West Brom on Saturday.

The Hornets made an encouraging start to life in the Barclays Premier League last weekend as they secured a 2-2 draw away to Everton.

West Brom however, will present an altogether different challenge for Flores' side, with the Baggies looking to bounce back from a 3-0 opening defeat against Manchester City.

"The match against West Brom, it will be completely different in terms of the technical and tactical approach," Flores said.

"Since the start of the week I have forgotten completely what happened in the last match.

"I have tried to correct the mistakes of course, the players know what we want to improve, but West Brom and Everton are different teams and have completely different styles.

"We are ready to play this kind of match. West Brom are a very close team, very strong, physical, balls in the air, they have really good players.

"They try to play together, the individual lines are very short. We have to plan how we want to control the match."

Hornets duo Almen Abdi and Steven Berghuis are available for the clash at Vicarage Road after the pair recovered from knee and leg injuries respectively but Miguel Britos and Giedrius Arlauskis are suspended.

Salomon Rondon faces a race against time to make his West Brom debut as the B#12million man battles for fitness.

The Baggies' record buy has been training this week after his switch from Zenit St Petersburg was rubber-stamped on Monday.

Albion go to Watford with Baggies boss Tony Pulis running the rule over Rondon's fitness, along with that of Arsenal loanee Serge Gnabry.

The pair could make the trip to Vicarage Road with Pulis hopeful his new boys will be available.

"He's done very well," Pulis said of Rondon.

"Him and Gnabry have spent a lot of time working with the fitness coach.

"But Salomon has showed a great attitude, he's a great lad and we've been impressed with him. He reminds me a little bit of Demba Ba in the way he wants to run off shoulders and is quick and strong.

"He is that type. He has got that willingness to get to where you want him to be, which is in behind defences.

"They have worked hard in the last week or so, the two of them, and I will assess it with the medical team to see if they're ready, if not to start then for the bench."

Gareth McAuley is also available after a calf injury ruled him out of Monday's 3-0 defeat to Manchester City.

The Baggies are looking to recover from their opening defeat, where Pulis admitted he got his tactics wrong, and they head to the Hornets with the boss braced for a tough opening.

He said: "The first four games of the season are very difficult for us.

"To have Man City and Chelsea as the two home games to start with is very difficult, then to play a newly promoted team on their first home game is tough. Then we have a derby with Stoke.

"The transfer window is still going on and things are going on behind the scenes so these four games are always going to be difficult.

"Watford have signed some good players from abroad and they look strong, they look as if they have brought good players into the country."


Source: PAR