Roy Hodgson has reminded his doubters that’ miracles’ do happen, despite Watford now looking all but destined for relegation. With just six games to play this season, the ‘Orns are seven points from safety and face a trip to league leaders Manchester City next.
Roy Hodgson said: “At the start of that season [in Sweden], we actually had a 100% prediction that the team would get relegated, and we won the league. So miracles do happen.”
If the ‘Orns are to survive, they will likely need to take something from the Etihad on Saturday – which could require a miracle in itself. Indeed, Pep Guardiola’s men eased past the side in a 3-1 victory when they met at Vicarage Road in December. And the last time Watford travelled to City for an away game in the Premier League, they were thumped 8-0. Hodgson lamented the fact that his side will have to face a team with so much still to play for at this late stage of the campaign,
Roy Hodgson said: “I mean, we’re unfortunate, again, in the sense that there could have been a time where you go to Man City, where they are in between fixtures, they’ve got a Champions League game coming up, they’ve already sewn the league up – so they’ve got no worries in that respect – so you know, you go up there and they’re just in a party mood. Now, of course, we’re going to meet the deadly serious Man City, who if they don’t beat us and get three points, it’s going to be a massive blow to them.”
He also spoke about how he needs the team to respond after their late defeat against Brentford,
Roy Hodgson said: “I’m hoping that the confidence won’t have been totally shattered by the last-minute goal in the last game, where in actual fact, the second half performance was probably as good as we’ve given for a long period of time. So I’m actually hoping that they’ll think more about the way we actually played against Brentford in the second half. And not just the fact that we once again had to swallow that bitter pill of a defeat.”
