By Gary Fulcher and Daniel Rhodes.

Liverpool head to Vicarage Road on Sunday to face Watford – 1.30pm kick off UK time – with the Hertfordshire outfit currently sitting two places (7th) and one point (25) above 9th placed Liverpool who have 24 points. The Hornets are one of the surprise teams this season and are on course – barring a major dip in form – to avoid a repeat of the 2006-07 campaign when they spent one season in the Premier League, finishing rock bottom with 28 points and a swift return to the Championship.

Under the guidance of former Valencia, Benfica and Atletico Madrid coach Quique Sánchez Flores, the Hornets have proven to be a defensively solid and well organised side with only Manchester Utd having kept more clean sheets (9) that Watford’s total of seven. Surprisingly, Watford have picked up more points on their travels with four of their seven victories coming away from home: Newcastle (2-1), Stoke (2-0), Aston Villa (3-2) and Sunderland (1-0).

At Vicarage Road, Watford have won three, drawn two and lost three with only Aston Villa with five goals scored having hit the back of the net on fewer occasions than Watford’s total of six, and only Manchester Utd (one) and Arsenal (five) have conceded fewer goals at home than Watford (six). 15 of Watford’s 18 league goals this season have been scored by forwards Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney.

The rest of this preview is for subscribers only.

[ttt-subscribe-article]