Head-To-Head: Liverpool vs Watford

The Premier League returns this weekend! There aren't any big team clashes this weekend, but we've picked out Liverpool vs Watford for our head-to-head as there is potential for a goal fest of a game.

The Premier League returns with Matchday 31 this weekend after they had last weekend off due to the international break. There are now no more interruptions until the end of the season, so it is a straight battle to the finish line now.

MD 31 isn’t offering any big clashes, however, there are games that have the potential to be high scorers. Liverpool vs Watford is one of them.

The Reds are flying high on a nine-game winning streak and are looking to jump ahead of Manchester City for the lead of the league. There is no better place to do so than at Anfield against a weaker relegation side of Watford.

With that being our feature game purely for the goals potential, here is how the two sides matchup this season.

 

Goals

Liverpool: 75

Watford: 29

 

Kicking off with the goals then, Liverpool have been on a tear this year. They have scored the most goals in the Premier League and the second-most goals from any team in Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues this season.

In fact, Liverpool have scored more goals this season than Watford have from their last two Premier League seasons combined (65).

 

xG per 90 minutes

Liverpool: 2.48

Watford: 1.06

 

The xG per 90 minutes matches up with the actual goals scored for both teams, with Liverpool scoring roughly 2.5x more goals than Watford this season.

It should be noted as well that the actual goals per 90 minutes rate for both sides are 2.59 for Liverpool and 1.00 for Watford.

I’m hoping you can see why we’re expecting a high scoring affair. 

 

Shot total per 90 mins

Liverpool: 18.93

Watford: 10.97

 

Liverpool are one of the most dominant forces in world football at the moment, so it's no surprise to see them taking such a high number of shots per game. 

They find themselves once again first in the league and second from the ‘Big Five’ leagues for this stat, some 1.33 shots behind Bayern Munich. They do match them for goals per shots rate, though, with 0.13.

Watford are much further behind, coming in at 15th in the league for this stat, although they fair a little better in the goals per shot department, ranking 11th with 0.09.

 

Shots on target per 90 mins

Liverpool: 6.59

Watford: 3.66

 

And again, Liverpool is at the top of the league for this stat, however it is close between them and Manchester City. Just 0.21 in it between the two sides.

Watford rank 12th in this stat, so a decent improvement for them. They also are just 1.5% behind Liverpool for shots on target percentage, with Watford coming in at 33.3% and Liverpool at 34.8%.

That 33.3% puts Watford in the top 10 for that stat, though, so that’s something to cheer about! Liverpool actually drops from their top spot for once in the league, falling to fifth for their shots on target percentage.

 

Penalties

Liverpool: 6/7

Watford: 1/2

 

There’s not really much to say about this one, it should come as no surprise.

The heavy hitting Liverpool have earnt themselves five more penalties than Watford, and just like their opponents this weekend, they’ve only missed the once.

Though their one miss still gives them a mighty conversion rate of 86%, while Watford’s sits at 50%.

 

Corners per game

Liverpool: 7.41

Watford: 4.28

 

With the number of shots taken, it’s no wonder Liverpool get as many corners a game.

Liverpool have taken the second most number of corners in the league with 215, with Manchester City beating them on 247.

Watford, on the other hand, have taken the fourth least number of corners this season with 124. 

 

Cards

Liverpool: 35 Y, 1 R

Watford: 53 Y, 2 R

 

Liverpool and Manchester City have been the two most disciplined teams in the league. They both have had 35 yellow cards and one red card, and with everything else going mostly their way, it's easy to see why those two dominate alone at the top.

Watford aren’t terribly ill-disciplined, though. 53 yellow cards is far off the most in the league. That award goes to Leeds with 90, a good 22 yellows ahead of the next most ill-disciplined team (Newcastle)