Watford v Leeds United: Key battle, Hornets key man and YEP prediction

Date: Saturday

Time: 3pm

Venue: Vicarage Road

Odds (best available): Watford win – 7-4, Draw – 13-5, Leeds win – 13-8

Last time the teams met at Vicarage Road

Saturday, February 20, 2016 - FA Cup: Watford 1 (Wootton og 53), Leeds United 0.

Key battle: Moussa Sissoko v Kalvin Phillips

No other Hornets player has made more league starts than experienced France international midfielder Sissoko this term and the powerful 32-year-old put in a solid shift in the middle of the park against world class opposition in last weekend's defeat at Liverpool. But Leeds ought to have their own midfield maestro back in England international star Kalvin Phillips who should be close to being cherry ripe having returned from three months out as a 66th-minute substitute in last weekend's 1-1 draw against Southampton at Elland Road. How United's class act Raphinha fares on the right wing and additionally the end product of Dan James is also likely to be key, as too a continuation of the strong form of Rodrigo.

Hornets key man: Joao Pedro

Nigerian international striker Emmanuel Dennis tops the Watford Premier League goalscoring charts on nine this term, followed by Ismaila Sarr, Joshua King and Cucho Hernandez on five apiece. But 20-year-old Joao Pedro led the line in last weekend's 2-0 loss at Liverpool and the 20-year-old is a huge talent with enormous potential. Pedro has only had nine league starts this season, 12 of his outings from the bench, but the skillful Samba star is evidently already now very high up in boss Roy Hodgson's list of attacking options and will need keeping close tabs on, be it from the XI or the bench.

Lee Sobot's verdict

A huge fixture for Leeds and probably the club's most important game since the Championship clash at Swansea City of July 2020 in which a late Pablo Hernandez winner put the Whites on the brink of promotion to the Premier League. Now the aim is to stay there and victory would put Jesse Marsch's side on to 33 points and 11 points clear of second-bottom Watford, probably leaving Everton and Burnley to scrap it out to avoid the final relegation place. Defeat, though, would be a nightmare, putting Watford right back in the frame with Leeds staring at a very hard run in. A true six-pointer that is bound to be tense but Watford have lost their last eight home games and really United's quality ought to tell, especially with Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips returning. Upfront is the only real question mark with Patrick Bamford and Joe Gelhardt having missed training early this week but even so we'll go with Watford 0 Leeds 2.