Watford vs Arsenal LIVE: Team news confirmed, Premier League table and fixtures

WATFORD vs ARSENAL – PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE!

• Watford came from behind to beat Arsenal in the corresponding match last season

• None of the 11 previous Premier League meetings have ended in a draw

• Watford haven’t lost at Vicarage Road since Boxing Day

• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is Arsenal’s highest Premier League goalscorer this season with 17 goals

Watford XI: Foster, Janmaat, Cathcart, Kabasele, Masina, Doucoure, Capoue, Femenia, Hughes, Gray, Deeney

Arsenal XI: Leno, Koscielny, Mavropanos, Mustafi, Monreal, Ramsey, Torreira, Xhaka, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang

Team News – Watford

19:20: Watford have made four from their FA Cup semi-final win over Wolves.

Ben Foster is back between the sticks with Daryl Janmaat, Christian Kabasele and Adam Masina also coming in.

Heurelho Gomes, Adrian Mariappa, Jose Holebas and Roberto Pereyra are out.

And the headline news, unfortunately, is that there’s no sign of Gerard Deulofeu, who has been struggling with injury since the semi-final.

Team News – Arsenal

19:15: Interesting. Very interesting.

Unai Emery has made SIX changes to the starting XI who beat Napoli at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night.

The most interesting inclusion is Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos, who makes his first appearance of the entire season. In any competition I might add!

In fact, I think his last appearance was when being sent off against Leicester in the opening 15 minutes last season.

Anyway, in come Bernd Leno, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi, Shkodran Mustafi, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Granit Xhaka.

That means the much maligned Shkodran Mustafi starts at right back this evening…

Don’t lose focus

19:10: Javi Gracia has told Watford to forget about the FA Cup final and focus on the race for Europe.

If Watford beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final they will qualify for Europe but, if they lose, finishing seventh would guarantee a Europa League qualifying spot.

Their rivals, Wolves, Everton and Leicester all lost at the weekend to give Watford the chance to overtake them.

“Our final is against Arsenal – not in May. This is the mentality we will keep and then at the end we will see the position and the points,” he said.

“But in this moment, our final is on Monday. My feeling is that the players are really focused on the next game. In this moment, I prefer to keep the same attitude we had during all the season, trying to give importance to the next game.”

Twitter round-up

Andrew: Wow, really interesting team this. Didn’t expect Mkhitaryan and Iwobi to start and Özil to be dropped despite last week. Definitely didn’t think Mavropanos would start as well. Not a bad team nevertheless, perfectly capable of beating Watford.

Champ: Mustafi at right back?! Glad to see Mavropanos back, Iwobi and Mkhitaryan is a bit… and Auba up front alone has a bit to prove for me!

Daniel: One thing Mavropanos has is speed and physical stature, two much needed attributes in the absence of Sokratis. A risky move, but an interesting one.

The line-ups

19:00: And here they are. And yes, that really is the Arsenal side. Questions?

Watford XI: Foster, Janmaat, Cathcart, Kabasele, Masina, Doucoure, Capoue, Femenia, Hughes, Gray, Deeney.

Subs: Gomes, Britos, Mariappa, Success, Sema, Chalobah, Navarro.

Arsenal XI: Leno, Koscielny, Mavropanos, Mustafi, Monreal, Ramsey, Torreira, Xhaka, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang.

Subs: Cech, Elneny, Lacazette, Ozil, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Kolasinac.

Advice…

18:55: Quite a nice story actually.

Unai Emery has revealed his fellow Spaniard was the first person he called when it became clear he was in the running for the Arsenal job.

“When the possibility opened up to sign here, the first coach, the first person in the football world I called was him,” Emery said of Gracia.

“I asked him some questions about the football here, the clubs, Arsenal and he recommended to me that I come here.

“I also met with (Manchester City midfielder) David Silva in Valencia last year and he said to me, ‘Coach, if you can, come to England, it is the best football and the best atmosphere for you also’.”

I wonder if he’s sought advice on how to beat the Hornets tonight? Probably not.

Evening…

18:50: Hello everyone and welcome to our LIVE coverage of the Premier League as Troy Deeney’s cojones-filled Watford welcome Arsenal to Vicarage Road.

The evening’s are getting lighter, the weather is getting better but neither side are preparing for a pleasant evening.

The Gunners have won only five of their 15 Premier League games on the road this season, with three of those victories coming at the sides in the relegation zone.

And Unai Emery wants to see some fight from his side.

Watford, meanwhile, are very much in the chase for a possible Europa League spot after terrible results for those around them this weekend.

Anyway, I think I’ve just spotted Granit Xhaka but we’ll see if he’s made the starting XI in just a few minutes.

WATFORD vs ARSENAL – TEAM NEWS

Watford will be without Jose Holebas, Domingos Quina and Tom Cleverley. Holebas suffered a hamstring injury during the FA Cup semi-final, Quina has a shoulder injury and Cleverley a calf problem.

Arsenal will be without Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who is banned for two matches after he was booked for the 10th time this season in the defeat to Everton last weekend. The Gunners will be hopeful Granit Xhaka (groin) is fit enough to be involved.

Last season: Arsenal 3 Watford 0, Watford 2 Arsenal 1

Last five league matches: Watford L W L L W; Arsenal W D W W L

Top scorers (all competitions): Troy Deeney (Watford) 11; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 22

Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)