WATFORD VS BOURNEMOUTH: PREVIEW

Watford host Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon, as the Hornets look to get their season back on track, following a baron spell.

The hosts lost 2-0 against Arsenal last weekend, meaning Javi Gracia's side are winless since they beat Tottenham at the start of September (four games).

Bournemouth, meanwhile, are coming off the back of a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on Monday night.

The Cherries bounced back very well from their disappointing and unusual 4-0 loss to Burnley the week before.

VIEW FROM THE HOME DUGOUT

Etienne Capoue and Jose Holebas have both picked up four yellow cards this season so far, meaning they're both a card away from a one-match suspension.

"We prefer to play the games 100 per cent and if the fifth yellow card comes we have players waiting to come in," Gracia said. "This isn't a problem for me."

Despite Watford's recent form, Gracia has insisted that he will not completely change the team and just tweak what needs to be tweaked.

"Our feelings and the stats show we are doing good work," Gracia added. "We are having a good feeling, good performances and we need to not only keep this level but improve little details.

"Taking care of these little details mean we are able to get better results. In all of the games, we have had the same or more shots than the other teams.

"This is not the most important thing, but you can feel with this statistic we are close, so close to being able to win all the games we are playing. I think we are in the right way."

VIEW FROM THE AWAY DUGOUT

Monday night's 2-1 victory over Palace saw captain Simon Francis come back into the team at right-back, which meant Adam Smith switched to the left and the performances of the pair pleased manager Eddie Howe.

"That's what you want," Howe said. "Simon came in and in every game he's played this year, he's done well.

"Against Palace he started the game and was excellent, both in the defensive aspect and pushing forward.

"At left-back, Adam Smith also did well, he's a versatile player who's always been able to play there and on both sides.

"It's positive to have players who can play in different positions and play well."

Both Watford and Bournemouth have perhaps 'over-achieved' so far this season, sitting in sixth and seventh respectively.

Source: Sky Sports

"I'm seeing a very competitive league and that's no different from previous seasons," Howe explained.

"There have been tight games, very little between teams and we know that we have to perform well to win, if we can't do that it's very difficult to get results.

"We know we'll have to do that again this weekend to get a result. We're trying to find that level of performance that we can give every week, we felt we were below that against Burnley and bounced back well against Palace, now we need to continue."

TEAM NEWS

Gerard Deulofeu, Stefano Okaka, Miguel Britos and Sebastian Prodl have all returned to Watford training and are in contention to play this Saturday.

However, Daryl Janmaat, Tom Cleverley and Marc Navarro are all still out for the Hornets.

Bournemouth have no fresh injury concerns as they prepare for their trip up to London.

Left-back Charlie Daniels returned to action for the under-21 side in midweek, but this may be too soon for the full-back.

STATS

Watford have only lost one of their last 14 matches against the Cherries in all competitions (W6, D7).

This will be the 100th Premier League game that's been played at Vicarage Road.

The hosts are one win short of 50 Premier League wins and one goal short of 200 goals in the league.

Midfielder Roberto Pereyra is in hot-form at Vicarage Road, scoring six goals in his last eight Premier League appearances at the stadium.

Bournemouth haven't kept a clean sheet on the road in their last nine away games, conceding 20 goals in that time, too.

Howe's side have been awarded four penalties this season already, joint top with Brighton, after only being awarded three in total last season.

BETTING ODDS/PREDICTION

Watford are favourites going into Saturday's clash, with Bet 365 offering you 23/20 to beat the Cherries.

Bournemouth are 5/2 to make it back-to-back wins in the Premier League.

I believe Watford will return to winning ways on Saturday afternoon, and I predict that Pereyra will have another great afternoon at Vicarage Road.

Watford 2-1 Bournemouth