{"id":685904,"date":"2026-01-10T03:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T03:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/685904\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T03:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T03:41:10","slug":"preview-watford-emirates-fa-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/685904\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Watford (Emirates FA Cup)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bristol City host fellow Sky Bet Championship side Watford in the Emirates FA Cup Third Round at Ashton Gate on Saturday, January 10th (5:45pm).\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the second time this season the two sides will go head-to-head, but this time a place in the next round of the cup is up for grabs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scott Twine helped City claim a point at the Hornets in early November, cancelling out Marc Bola\u2019s early goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Robins have won one and lost one since the New Year, comfortably beating Portsmouth on New Year\u2019s Day before suffering a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Preston North End.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sam Bell has returned to BS3 from his loan spell at Wycombe Wanderers, while Ross McCrorie will be unavailable as he serves the first of a three-match suspension.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With back-to-back league away games forthcoming, Gerhard Struber will want to regain momentum and return to winning ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last season, City hosted Premier League side Wolves at the same stage of the competition, suffering a narrow 2-1 defeat, exiting the cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City\u2019s captain Jason Knight says his side will play with \u2018full confidence\u2019 as they target a place in the Fourth Round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our Opponents: Watford\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s visitors head to BS3 in an impressive run of form, suffering just one defeat since November 1st \u2013 an impressive 13 league games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier in the season, the Hornets were a less consistent outfit, losing five, winning four and drawing three of their previous 12 fixtures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A change in Head Coach coincided with their change in form as Watford parted ways with Paulo Pezzolano and appointed Javi Gracia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gracia managed Watford between 2018-2019 and guided them to an 11th-place finish in the Premier League and to the Emirates FA Cup final \u2013 a feat they are surely targeting once again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watford have won their last four games, scored seven goals and kept three clean sheets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luca Kjerrumgaard and Imran Louza lead their side in goals scored, while Tom Ince\u2019s hat-trick in their most recent game and win over Birmingham City will fill him with confidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently sixth in the Sky Bet Championship, Gracia\u2019s side are fresher than most, having not played since New Year\u2019s Day after their clash with Hull City was postponed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATFORD PROFILE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Formed: 1881
Stadium: Vicarage Road
Nickname: The Hornets\u00a0
Manager: Javi Gracia\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
Finish last season: 14th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

MATCH DETAILS<\/strong><\/p>\n

When: Saturday, January 10th\u00a0(5:45pm)\u00a0
Where: Ashton Gate\u00a0
Competition: Emirates FA Cup<\/p>\n

Referee: Tom Reeves
Assistant Referees: Michael Webb & Jonathon Block
Fourth Official: Ben Atkinson<\/p>\n

ONE TO WATCH: OTHMANE MAAMMA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born in 2005, Frenchman Othmane Maamma began his career at French side Arles before moving to Montpellier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maamma appeared for Montpellier\u2019s youth side and made his debut as a substitute in May 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At 18 years old, the attacker scored on his first start, helping his side to a 2-2 draw against Lens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Internationally, the winger has represented Morocco at Under-20s and made his debut against England in a friendly fixture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In October 2025, the young star helped Morocco to win the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, scoring four goals and assisting once, earning him the Golden Ball award for the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watford secured his talents in July 2025 and, since arriving at Vicarage Road, has made 12 appearances and scored three goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MATCH REWIND<\/strong><\/p>\n

Result: Bristol City 2-1 Watford
When: 05.04.2025
Competition: Sky Bet Championship\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

HEAD-TO-HEAD: BRISTOL CITY VS WATFORD<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Matches won: 39
Matches drawn: 33
Matches lost: 32<\/p>\n

Biggest win: Bristol City 5-0 Watford: September 4th, 1926
Most recent game: Watford 1-1 Bristol City: November 11th, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bristol City host fellow Sky Bet Championship side Watford in the Emirates FA Cup Third Round at Ashton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8818],"tags":[55796,381,18228,748,134914,393,4884,16,15,35555],"class_list":["post-685904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bristol","tag-2025-26","tag-bristol","tag-bristol-city","tag-britain","tag-emirates-fa-cup","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-watford"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115868734882738024","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}