Roy Hodgson reunites with one of his many former clubs on Saturday afternoon, as Crystal Palace take on London rivals Watford in a behind-closed-doors friendly.
The Eagles most recently thrashed Crawley Town 4-0, while the Hornets have drawn with Arsenal and Boreham Wood during their relatively quiet summer schedule.
Match preview
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The friendly form book displays a traffic light for Crystal Palace, who suffered an opening defeat to Barnet before restoring some parity in a 1-1 draw with Brondby, but Hodgson's side were in a merciless mood at Crawley's Broadfield Stadium on Wednesday.
Amid speculation that Palace are trying to offload him, Jean-Philippe Mateta sent a clear message to the Eagles board with a brace inside the opening 16 minutes, before Eberechi Eze and Naouirou Ahamada also got in on the act during a first-half rout.
Hodgson's side were unable to add to their advantage in the second period, but the damage had been done within the first half-hour, as Hodgson's side made it third time lucky from their pre-season fixtures ahead of more daunting contests over the next fortnight.
Indeed, Hodgson's men will soon board a flight to the USA to take on Millonarios and Europa League winners Sevilla, before touching back down in the UK to lock horns with French giants Lyon in front of the Selhurst Park faithful.
Saturday's battle will see Hodgson reunite with the team who he tried and failed to save from Premier League relegation in the 2021-22 season, and the Hornets have since turned to a Barnsley miracle-worker in their bid to return to the big time.
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Hoping to avoid becoming the latest in a long line of Vicarage Road managerial victims, Valerien Ismael is the new man at the Watford helm, replacing Chris Wilder after the former Sheffield United boss won just three of 11 games during his short-lived spell.
Ismael takes over at a Watford side who were knocking on the playoff door during the mid-point of the Championship season - rising into the top three for a brief period under Slaven Bilic - but the Hornets board pulled the trigger on the Croatian as results dipped, and Wilder departed having only achieved a mediocre 11th-placed finish.
Watford's FA Cup and EFL Cup journeys also came to an end at the first hurdles, and Ismael hardly got off to the brightest start earlier this month, as his side were stunted in a goalless draw away to local foes Boreham Wood.
However, Watford came away from Arsenal's London Colney training base with a respectable 1-1 stalemate - taking the lead through Ismael Kone before Marquinhos levelled for the Gunners - and Saturday's game represents their final friendly before Queens Park Rangers visit Vicarage Road on August 5 in their Championship opener.
During Watford's doomed 2021-22 season, Hodgson's Hornets were put to the sword twice by Patrick Vieira's Crystal Palace, suffering a 4-1 home defeat before succumbing to a Wilfried Zaha penalty at Selhurst Park on May 7, which sent Watford back down to the second tier.
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Team News
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Palace boss Hodgson will be able to call upon most of his notable names for Saturday's game and the trip to the USA, but France Under-21 international Michael Olise is still recovering from the serious thigh problem he picked up at the Euros.
Hodgson was quizzed on Olise's recovery after the win at Crawley, but the Eagles boss could only concede that the attacker would be out for a "period of time", while new signing Jefferson Lerma also missed the win over Crawley after returning from international duty with a sickness bug.
However, Hodgson is confident that the former Bournemouth man will be able to make his debut this weekend, but any minutes for the lynchpin are likely to come from the bench.
As for their opponents, Watford boss Ismael has only overseen the arrivals of two players so far - Rhys Healey's free transfer from Toulouse and Tom Ince's cut-price arrival from Reading.
Matheus Martins's loan spell from Udinese has also been extended for another year, but Joao Pedro, William Troost-Ekong, Leandro Bacuna, Craig Cathcart, Britt Assombalonga, Domingos Quina and Mario Gaspar have all cleared out their lockers and left the club.
Midfielder Edo Kayembe is also yet to return from the calf injury that kept him out for the final few months of the season, allowing Kone and Imran Louza to pair up in the middle again.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; Ward, Tomkins, Andersen, Mitchell; Doucoure, Riedewald, Eze; Ayew, Mateta, Rak-Sakyi
Watford possible starting lineup:
Bachmann; Porteous, Hoedt, Sierralta; Ngakia, Kone, Louza, Ferreira; Martins, Bayo, Sema
We say: Crystal Palace 2-0 Watford
Even with creator-in-chief Olise on the long road to recovery, Palace were not short of opportunities in their drubbing of Crawley and should have few problems carving out chances against a Watford side still becoming accustomed to Ismael's methods.
While the margin of victory should not be as emphatic, Hodgson's side should still travel to the USA with back-to-back wins to their name.
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Ben Knapton
