Gillingham are set to welcome Watford to Priestfield Stadium on Saturday as both teams continue their pre-season schedules ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
The Gills drew 0-0 in their first pre-season fixture against Millwall, while the Hornets have lost one, drawn one and won one of their three friendly outings.
Match preview
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Gillingham's preparations for their third consecutive season in League Two, after finishing 12th with 64 points last season, began last weekend as they hosted EFL Championship side Millwall at Priestfield Stadium.
New manager Mark Bonner took charge of the side for the first time since taking over from Stephen Clemence, who was sacked just two days after drawing 2-2 with Doncaster Rovers on the final day of last campaign.
Despite his side missing a number of chances throughout the match, Bonner would have been happy with the performance that his side produced against a team that compete two divisions above them.
Bonner, who has previous experience of guiding teams to promotion from League Two, is set to challenge his side against Championship opposition once again on Saturday.
After taking on Watford, Gillingham will face Dartford, Southend United and finally face Woking at home before taking on Carlisle United in the opening game of 2024/25.
As for the Hornets, they have struggled in the two seasons since last being relegated from the Premier League in 2021-22, placing in the middle of the Championship on both occasions with 11th and 15th-placed finishes.
After being appointed in March on an interim basis, former Watford midfielder Tom Cleverley was eventually handed the permanent job in April and is now preparing for his first full season in the job.
However, it was not plain sailing under Cleverley as he guided the side to just two wins in the final nine games of the term, and Watford have continued to struggle throughout pre-season with one win, draw and loss from their three outings.
Most recently, the Hornets were held to a disappointing 2-2 draw against League One side Stevenage, leaving Cleverley eager for a much-improved performance as he seeks to build a positive run of form ahead of the new campaign.
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Team News
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As is customary in pre-season friendlies, Bonner named a different 11 for either half in Gillingham's goalless draw with Millwall, and that is expected to be the case once again here.
New signings Elliott Nevitt, Armani Little, Jack Nolan and Aaron Rowe all made their first appearances for the club in that draw, and all four are likely to feature at some point in this one.
Watford similarly made wholesale changes in their friendly against Stevenage, although the bulk of the substitutions came on the hour mark, and Cleverley is likely to rotate for this one.
Imran Louza and Kwadwo Baah got on the scoresheet in that game and both are in contention for starting places on Saturday, while new signing Rocco Vata could also play from the start.
Gillingham possible starting lineup:
Turner; Hutton, Ehmer, Masterson, Ogie; Dieng, Little; Rowe, Williams, Nolan; Andrews
Watford possible starting lineup:
Bachmann; Pollock, Sierralta, Hoedt; Vata, Louza, Dele-Bashiru, Andrews; Baah, Bayo, Ince
We say: Gillingham 1-1 Watford
Gillingham put in a good performance against a Millwall side that finished three points above Watford last season, and that leads us to believe this one will also end all square.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Watford win with a probability of 41.52%. A win for Gillingham had a probability of 31.21% and a draw had a probability of 27.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Watford win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.64%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.52%) and 0-2 (7.7%). The likeliest Gillingham win was 1-0 (9.76%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.89%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 5.4% likelihood.
Ellis Stevens
