On a weekend where penalties proved to be the main talking point of the Premier League action, Watford and Burnley, who meet at Turf Moor on Wednesday evening, enjoyed very different fortunes. The Hornets were seemingly cruising to victory on Friday night at the Brentford Community Stadium but conceded twice in the final 10 minutes. Bryan Mbeumo scored a last minute penalty to give the Bees a 2-1 victory that heaped further pressure on their visitors who have now lost their last four Premier League games. Meanwhile Burnley were generally second best in a hard fought encounter on Sunday afternoon but enjoyed a slice of luck when VAR found no reason to award West Ham a penalty when Dwight McNeil tangled with Craig Dawson.

Claudio Ranieri became the 13th different permanent Watford manager since the Pozzi family takeover in 2012 when he was appointed in October. He succeeded Xisco Muñoz who was sacked for overseeing “a negative trend” in team performances and results. At that stage the Hornets were in 15th place in the League with 7 points from 7 games. Despite a 5-2 away win at Everton in Ranieri’s second game in charge and a 4-1 humbling of Manchester United that led to the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Watford’s poor run of results has continued. They have 13 points from 16 games and currently sit 17th in the table just one place and two points ahead of the Clarets. Ranieri who earned the nickname “ the Tinkerman” from his time at Chelsea would later guide unfancied Leicester City to the Premier League title in 2015-16. He will be acutely aware however that his managerial stay at Watford is unlikely to be long particularly if they were to slide further down the table.

Emmanuel Dennis who has scored 7 goals for the Hornets this season will be their number one menace but he is backed up by the goal threat of Josh King and Ismaila Sarr. Burnley will be without Connor Roberts who has been in hospital while Maxwel Cornet remains doubtful with a thigh strain. Ashley Westwood who was substituted against West Ham is likely to start against Watford.

The match referee is Martin Atkinson with Stuart Attwell on VAR. The weather forecast is good and as long as Covid keeps out of the way the game should go ahead. Back in April 2003 this fixture finished Burnley 4 Watford 7. Gareth Taylor netted a first half hat-trick but was outdone by Michael Chopra who scored four for the Hornets. Expect a much tighter affair this time around. COYC!