Watford vs Stoke City Prediction: Both aiming to keep momentum going

Watford will be hosting Stoke City at Vicarage Road in Game Week 2 of the English Championship. Both teams want to maintain the momentum with a victory. Who will win after 90 minutes?

After some genuinely terrible preseason matches this summer—losses to Reading, Gillingham, and Wycombe Wanderers, Watford has gone into a strong start to the 2024-25 season with the grabbing of consecutive wins in the Championship and EFL Cup. Though Duncan Watmore netted twice for Millwall in last weekend's game, Watford took its first win with some stunning goals by Edo Kayembe and Giorgi Chakvetadze—late by substitute Mileta Rajovic.

Watford rotated their starting XI heavily for the visit of MK Dons in the EFL Cup but were still comfortable winners at Vicarage Road, easing to a five-goal victory that earned a second-round date with Plymouth Argyle. Tom Ince, disappointing in his debut season last time out, bagged a hat-trick against MK Dons to overtake the total from his entire 2023-24 tally and head coach Tom Cleverley feels he will be indispensable this campaign.

Well, having finished mid-table last season, Watford has to get more from their Vicarage Road record—having managed just 27 points from 23 home matches in 2023-24—if they are to challenge for a spot in the Premier League.

Bachmann; Sierralta, Porteous, Pollock; Ngakia, Dele-Bashiru, Kayembe, Andrews; Sissoko, Chakvetadze, Rajovic

With plenty of concerns around the side's attacking firepower and a lack of a central striker, Stoke City are doing their utmost to keep things tidy at the back. Indeed, the Staffordshire club posted back-to-back clean sheets across the Championship and the EFL Cup over the past week.

It was Midlands supremacy on opening weekend, with Mark Robins's Coventry City rolling into the bet365 Stadium. The Potters had to bide their time for a game-winning moment, with ex-Chelsea youngster Lewis Baker coming off the bench to seal maximum points.

As did Watford in their EFL Cup adventure on Tuesday, Stoke changed a host of their XI for the jaunt to League Two Carlisle United but did restore a measure of pride through second-half strikes by debutant Freddie Anderson and youngster Emre Tezgel that secured them a battle against Leeds United-conquering Middlesbrough in the next round.

Level on points with Watford in the very early Championship standings, sitting after their respective opening weekend successes, the Potters are Saturday's visitors to Vicarage Road hoping to leave years of mid-table mediocrity behind them in the challenge for a top-six spot.

Stoke took four points from their two second-tier skirmishes with the Hornets during the 2023-24 campaign, including a creditable point in Hertfordshire on December 29, when goals from Jake Livermore and Ryan Mmaee meant that the pair shared the spoils despite the hosts having 10 men for the majority of the second half.

Johansson; Tchamadeu, Wilmot, Gibson, Bocat; Thompson, Baker, Burger; Gooch, Manhoef, Tezgel

Watford have begun the campaign in fine form under Tom Cleverley's permanent management, hitting eight goals in their opening two games of the season.

Stoke have shut out both of their opponents so far this season, but we have a funny feeling that the Potters could suffer their first loss of the campaign at Vicarage Road this weekend.