Championship high-flyers Southampton travel to play-off hopefuls Watford in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The Saints will be hoping to continue their impressive unbeaten streak of 21 games and make it to the fifth round for the fourth time in five seasons.
- Both Teams to Score @ 1/2 with Paddy Power
- Over 2.5 goals @ 4/6 with Bet365
- Southampton to win @ EVS with Bet365
- Date: 28/01/24
- Kick-off time: 14:00
- Venue: Vicarage Road
The fight for automatic promotion will be shortly put on hold for Southampton as they face Watford in a bid to make it to the next round of the FA Cup.
Southampton currently sit second in the Championship and look very good for an immediate return to the Premier League. Watford are also hoping to return to the top flight after two seasons. They occupy ninth place, but are just three points behind the top six. However, it is very tight in that area of the table, with the Hornets one of three sides on 40 points.
Both sides dispatched of lower-league opposition in the previous round. The Saints beat League Two Walsall 4-0, with a brace from Ryan Fraser adding to goals from Sekou Mara and Che Adams. Watford took care of National League table-toppers Chesterfield, but only just. It took a late stoppage-time winner to avoid a replay.
Watford were defeated in the third round last season, with Reading coming out on top as 2-0 winners. Southampton were on the end of a huge upset at home, the then Premier League side losing 2-1 to League Two Grimsby.
Despite their disappointment last year, the Saints have made it to both the quarter-finals and semi-finals in the last four seasons. In 2021, they lost at Wembley to eventual winners Leicester and the following year Man City got the better of them.
This is the first time Watford have made it past the third round since they reached the final of the competition in 2019. In that game they lost 6-0 to Man City, the joint largest margin of defeat in FA Cup final history.
Russell Martin will be leaning on the goal-scoring of Adam Armstrong, who is amongst the top scorers in the Championship with 14 goals. He has also contributed an incredible 11 assists on top of that. Watford will find it difficult to stop this potent attack, with their 53 league goals only bettered by table toppers Leicester, who have scored two more. Che Adams has found the back of the net nine times, and Ryan Fraser has bagged seven, meaning there are number of attackers the opposition defence will have to contain.
This will be the 26th meeting between Watford and Southampton in this century. It is a fixture that has been edged by Southampton, who have won 10 games to Watford’s eight. The Hornets did have a stretch between 2004 and 2008 in which they won six consecutive games against this weekend’s opponents.
Earlier this season, the two sides faced each other in the Championship, with the points shared in a 1-1 draw. Che Adams opened the scoring before substitute Rhys Healey salvaged a point deep into stoppage time for Watford.
The pair met in the FA Cup fourth round back in 2018, with the Saints winning 1-0 thanks to a Jack Stephens goal in the fourth minute. Southampton would end up making the semi-finals that season, a feat they would love to replicate this year.
