Watford expert gives ‘one of the worst’ verdict on Sunderland ahead of Championship clash and predicts Tom Cleverley’s game plan

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Still fresh from the buzz of winning the Tees-Wear derby on Monday night, Sunderland are back in action again on Saturday with a home tie against Watford.

The Black Cats pulled off a brilliant victory over Middlesbrough on Monday, with Regis Le Bris inspiring his team to overcome a deficit and control the game by the end.

Next up, Sunderland host Watford at the Stadium of Light, looking to maintain their unbeaten home record and pick up another three points to continue their promotion charge.

Anyone planning to watch Sunderland versus Watford this weekend will probably be expecting a home win, but one Watford expert does have an idea as to how Tom Cleverley could take something from the game.

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Watford are not equipped to deal with Sunderland

Joining the Sunderland Echo’s James Copley on The Roar podcast, Watford expert Tom Bodell discussed the state of affairs for his team ahead of the upcoming fixture, and it doesn’t bode well for the Hornets.

“I think the way we are going, this is one of the worst possible fixtures for us,” Bodell said. “Our away form is poor, only three wins this season on the road. We’re struggling to create chances – our first shot on target vs Norwich was in the 72nd minute.”

“We’re not particularly strong at the back either,” he added. “We tend to concede early, concede the first goal and that makes it hard for ourselves.”

That may sound dismal for Watford, but Bodell does have some semblance of hope for his team ahead of the clash with Regis Le Bris’ side.

“Still, Sunderland don’t score heaps of goals at home,” he said. “It will be a really tough game. We often skate by, we sometimes score late goals and bring on someone from the bench to have an impact. There’s injuries though, which will put a lot of pressure on the players.”

In terms of what Watford can do to combat the threat, Bodell added: “I think Tom Cleverley will try to build a strong platform, keep it tight and try to steal something. We’d definitely take a point.

“I think it’s going to be a case of just going there, parking the bus a little bit and seeing what we can do. The problem with that is obviously as soon as you concede, and we probably will, you have to change what your plan is entirely.”

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Sunderland have to punish Watford early on

Watford may only be three points off the play-offs right now, but they are a whopping 17 points behind the Black Cats. Simply put, the two teams are in a completely different league at the moment.

Sunderland have to win games like this if they want to keep up their pursuit of the Championship title, or at the very least that promotion spot. And based on what we’ve seen this season, they’ve got more than enough about them to get the win.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	31	19	9	3	62	19	43	66
2	BurnleyBurnley	31	16	13	2	37	9	28	61
3	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	30	19	6	5	41	21	20	61
4	SunderlandSunderland	30	16	10	4	45	26	19	58
5	BlackburnBlackburn	31	13	6	12	35	31	4	45
6	West BromWest Brom	30	10	14	6	39	27	12	44
7	MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough	30	12	8	10	49	39	10	44
8	NorwichNorwich	30	11	9	10	49	42	7	42
9	Bristol CityBristol City	30	10	12	8	38	35	3	42
10	Sheffield WednesdaySheffield Wednesday	30	11	9	10	43	46	-3	42
11	CoventryCoventry	31	11	8	12	41	40	1	41
12	WatfordWatford	30	12	5	13	40	42	-2	41

It will be very interesting to see what lineup Le Bris goes for. We’ve taken a look at a Sunderland predicted XI for the game, and we find it hard to imagine the manager making many changes to the team that triumphed over Middlesbrough.

The sides above Sunderland just keep grinding out results, and the Black Cats need to do the same. Otherwise, they will find themselves stranded in fourth place and running out of steam in the run-up to the play-offs.