I was asking myself over and over during the last few days - what could Watford possibly offer to stop Arsenal from winning on Sunday. Given the visiting team has been in stellar form over the past few weeks, most of their leading players are in great shape (Odegaard, Lacazette, even Pepe has come to life, scoring last round vs. Wolves) and they are fully motivated by the fight for Champions League berth.

Watford, on the other hand, have been unable to get a win on home soil for what feels like an eternity - the last team to lose at Vicarage Road was…Manchester United in November. Since then their domestic performances have derailed dramatically. Crystal Palace put 4 past Foster the other week, even “dead-man walking” Norwich found a way to score 3 on January 21.

So on paper there is little reason for Watford to feel positive about Sunday face-off vs. Arsenal. Hosts have winger Ismaila Sarr and centre-back Troost-Ekong out injured - it was confirmed by manager Hodgson at the pre-match press-conference on Saturday. Sarr’s absence is a blow, as he’s been one of the team's most dangerous units in attack together with Dennis (5 goals + 1 assist).

The Gunners only have to worry about fullback Tomiyasu's unavailability - he is easily replaced by Soares. Other than that the visitors are set to out all guns blazing and with full focus on EPL. The club is not playing in Europe this season, which should be considered as an obvious advantage at this stage of the campaign - Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham and Manchester United are all involved in European Cups and get 2 games per week on a regular basis. This is the period where Arteta knows he can take maximum benefit from Arsenal’s fresh legs.

I am looking forward to an away win in this match.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

在过去的几天里，我一直在问自己——沃特福德能拿出什么来阻止阿森纳在周日获胜呢?考虑到客队在过去几周的表现非常出色，他们的大多数主力球员都状态很好(奥德加德，拉卡泽特，甚至佩佩也在上一轮对阵狼队的比赛中进球)，他们对冠军联赛席位的争夺充满了动力。

另一方面，沃特福德却一直无法在主场取得一场胜利——上一次在维卡奇路失利的球队是11月的曼联。从那以后，他们在国内的表现就大大偏离了轨道。水晶宫在前几周击败福斯特4分，甚至“行尸走肉”诺维奇在1月21日也找到了3分的方法。

所以理论上沃特福德没有理由对周日对阵阿森纳的比赛感到乐观。主场有边锋伊斯梅拉·萨尔和中后卫特罗斯特-埃孔受伤——这是主教练霍奇森在周六的赛前新闻发布会上证实的。萨尔的缺席是一个打击，因为他和丹尼斯(5球+ 1助攻)是球队进攻中最危险的单位之一。

枪手只需要担心边后卫富泰不能上场——他很容易被苏亚雷斯取代。除此之外，游客们将会把所有的枪都放出来，并将全部精力集中在EPL上。俱乐部本赛季没有参加欧洲比赛，这应该被认为是本赛季的一个明显优势——切尔西、热刺、西汉姆和曼联都参加了欧洲冠军杯，每周都有两场比赛。在这个时期，阿尔特塔知道他可以从阿森纳的新球员身上获得最大的好处。

我期待着这场比赛的客场胜利。