Last time Watford won at Chelsea Sir Elton John was married to a woman… all you need to know ahead of this weekend’s Premier League fixtures
HERE'S something to get your head around.
The last time Watford won at Stamford Bridge the club’s saviour and life president, Sir Elton John, was married… to a woman.
The clubs meet on Saturday in west London with some optimistic Watford fans suggesting there is an outside chance of history repeating itself.
Yep, you have to go back to 1986 for the Hornets’ last victory - a magnificent 5-1 triumph.
But there is hope on the horizon, not least in the fact that Marco Silva’s men have won 10 points from a possible 12 away from home this term (W3, D1, L0).
Chelsea’s problems are mounting, too. The injuries are piling up and they’ve lost three of their eight matches.
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No team since the dawning of time (that’s the 1992/93 season, by the way) has ever lost this many games at this stage and gone on to win the Premier League crown.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: HOME WIN
West Ham v Brighton
You get the sense that is a crucial game for the Hammers or, more specifically, Slaven Bilic.
Though they’re hardly ripping up any trees at the moment, they can take some solace from a solid enough home record.
For they've actually kept clean sheets in five of their last seven Premier League matches at the awfully-name London Stadium.
While Brighton have made an acceptable start to their first campaign in the top flight, they tend to be at their best at home.
Their record of just one point and one goal in four away games so far suggests they may struggle again tonight.
Still, at least they’ve got the Teutonic treadmill that is Pascal Gross.
The German has been involved in 83 per cent of Brighton’s six goals this season and, get this, he’s created the same number of chances as Kevin De Bruyne (211) since August 2015.
But does he get any of the plaudits that KDB does? Does he heck…
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: AWAY WIN
Huddersfield v Manchester United
United make the short trip up the M62 to Huddersfield (probably via Rochdale) for the first time since the 1971/72 season when they won both games against the Terriers.
It’s hard to see any other result again today.
Mourinho’s team may be dull but they’re ruthlessly efficient and they’ll become the first team in Premier League history to keep eight clean sheets in their first nine games if David De Gea keeps the hosts at bay.
Seems like the wheels might be coming off for Huddersfield. Without a win in six league games they’ve also forgotten how to find the back of the net with just one goal in that barren spell.
If they want some good news, however, they could always look to the fact that Romelu Lukaku has failed to score in 17 of his last 24 games against newly-promoted sides.
So much for those flat-track bully accusations then.
Manchester City v Burnley
City are great and all that but let’s just take a moment to reflect on the great strides Burnley have made this season as the Ginger Mourinho, Sean Dyche, continues to baffle and befuddle the football world.
This, for the record, is the Clarets best-ever start to a Premier League season with 13 points from their eight games.
Much of that is down to stand-in keeper Nick Pope who’s only conceded two goals in the 414 minutes he’s played this season.
He’s also got the best save percentage (91.7 per cent) of any Premier League goalkeeper this term, too.
Pope might have his work cut out this weekend though, facing a rampant City side whose young Brazilian Gabriel Jesus has now scored 13 goals in 15 starts in the Premier League – and only Andy Cole (15) and Micky Quinn (14) have scored more in the same amount of games.
I wonder if Gabriel Jesus grew up dreaming of one day emulating Micky Quinn.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: HOME WIN
Newcastle United v Crystal Palace
Sometimes a statistic jumps out at you like a salmon heading back up stream, moments before it’s whipped out of the water and devoured by a grizzly.
Take this one, for instance.
Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez has never lost a home league match in English football against a coach who’s also managed the English national team (W16, D4).
That may say more about the quality of the England coaches, of course, but we’ve got a feeling that this might be the weekend when that record comes to an end.
Yes, the Magpies have lost only one of their last nine Premier League matches at home (W5 D3 L1) but after that breakthrough win against Chelsea last week, Palace seem to have turned a corner.
Much of that can be attributed to the return of Wilfried Zaha. He could score in consecutive Premier League matches for the first time since March 2015.
He might not though.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: AWAY WIN
Stoke v Bournemouth
Makes the mouth water, doesn’t it? No? As you were then…
That said, there is some hope for the neutral, not least because no team has conceded more goals this season than the Potters (18) and because no side has conceded more shot from inside the six-yard box than Eddie Howe’s strugglers (12).
Two veteran goalscorers to look out for here too. The long and short of it is that Peter Crouch needs one more goal to draw level with Jon Walters as Stoke’s all-time Premier League goalscorer (43) while Bournemouth’s Jermain Defoe needs one more to make it to 200 career league goals.
There’s every chance they could both get there.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: DRAW
Swansea v Leicester
When Swansea beat Leicester 2-0 in February it not only ended a run of four league defeats against the Foxes.
It also proved to be the end of Claudio Ranieri’s astonishing tenure as Leicester boss.
Fast forward eight months and Leicester have decided to get rid of their manager before this fixture this time, leaving Michael Appleton as the caretaker boss.
How will the players react? Hard to say.
On one hand, they are reportedly fuming that Craig Shakespeare was shown the door after just eight games of the season.
But on the other it may just prove to be the kick up the you know what they need to drag them out of the bottom three.
Swansea, meanwhile, will be banking on the in-form Tammy Abraham to do the business for them.
The Chelsea loanee has scored four in eight league games so far this season and that’s a higher share of his team’s goals than any other Premier League player this season (80%).
That tends to happen when you steal your teammate’s goals on the goal line. Just ask Jordan Ayew.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: DRAW
Southampton v West Brom
If you thought that Stoke v Bournemouth was a cracker then how about Saints versus the Baggies, the match that can boast the lowest goals-per-match ratio in the history of Premier League with an average of just 1.5 goals per game (21 in 14 matches).
But give them a chance. Southampton finally started to show some form last week in a 2-2 draw with Newcastle.
There was a long-awaited return to scoring form for Manolo Gabbiadini who bagged both goals. It was about time too - his previous two goals took him 16 games to find.
Saints have also won two of their last three league games against West Brom. That’s as many as they had in their previous nine against them.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: HOME WIN
Everton v Arsenal
What the hell is happening at Everton at the moment? Results going badly, morale collapsing and now fans attacking opposition players – while carrying children. It’s not looking rosy for Ronald Koeman, is it?
And it could get worse.
The Toffees may have won two of their last four Premier League games against Arsenal but the Gunners have beaten Everton more times than any other club as beaten another in English league football.
That’s 94 times if you’re counting.
You may recall that this was the fixture back in October 2002 when a young Wayne Rooney announced himself to the football world with a worldie of a first Premier League goal.
He smashed it in off the underside of the crossbar and leaving David Seaman’s ponytail flapping in the wind.
For the record, Wazza has actually scored 11 times in the league against Arsenal and that’s more than any other player.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: AWAY WIN
Spurs v Liverpool
It used to be the case that Spurs just loved playing Liverpool but it’s now nine games since they last won a Premier League match against the Reds (W0 D3 L6).
It doesn’t help that Harry Kane, for once, doesn’t find playing them to his liking either.
The England skipper has yet to score in 173 minutes of home league action against Liverpool. No big deal maybe, but the only side he has faced more without finding the net at home is Crystal Palace (269 minutes).
Look out for some defensive disasters here too. We all know Liverpool’s frailty at the back but Spurs have played their part in amassing a record number of own goals in this fixture.
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There’s been nine of the blighters in the Premier League, not all of which were scored by Jamie Carragher.
SUNSPORT PREDICITON: HOME WIN
