Pardew: Injured Trio Could Return For Watford
Speaking in a press conference, Alan Pardew has confirmed that he is a big fan of Watford striker Troy Deeney, and that he attempted to sign the striker earlier in his management career.
Dwight Gayle’s hat-trick against the Addicks has put him in the frame for a first Premier League start of the season as Pardew plots a way past the Watford defence.
They’ve drawn with Everton, West Brom and Southampton and in the last two weeks have beaten Swansea and Newcastle.
Watford have surprised many with the start they have made. But Palace weren’t to be underestimated and were hard to beat; a real team of winners that was a close-nit group and it proved on the day, as they held the Hornets until extra time where Kevin Phillips scored a penalty to win it for the Eagles.
Troy Deeney has been directly involved in 33 goals (21 goals, 12 assists) in 48 league appearances for Watford since the start of last season.
The manager said: “I’m a big fan of Deeney”. I’ve tried to sign him in the past. “Him and Odion Ighalo up front are as good as any pair at the moment so we need to be ready for that, and we need to find a way to score at Vicarage Road”.
“They’re very fortunate, Watford [to have such an effective strike force]”. They look well organised and play free-flowing football.
Their back five will come under pressure from a Palace side that are made to attack on the road and Alan Pardew has no shortage of players who are prepared to have a crack at the target from distance with none of Bakary Sako, Yannick Bolasie, Jason Puncheon and Wilfried Zaha shy in coming forwards. They have picked up 15 points from their last seven league fixtures away from Selhurst Park, including a stunning 2-1 win at champions Chelsea last month.
· The Hornets have only managed one win (including 2013 Championship play-off final) against Crystal Palace in their last nine league matches (W1 D2 L6).
Connor Wickham (rib) is also “short of fitness” and likely to miss out again.