Manchester City look to continue their fine start to the new Premier League season with a home fixture against newcomers Watford, in what should be a rather intriguing contest.
Though the Hornets had been playing in the Championship for a good few years now, that has not stopped them from squaring off against City in cup competitions. Anyway, without going any further, here are three memorable meetings between the two sides.
11th August 2001:
City and Watford locked horns here in the old Division One and it was the Blues who emerged victorious. Over 33,000 packed into Maine Road for the early season fixture and went home satisfied with City recording a 3-0 win. Shaun Goater bagged the opener, Eyal Berkovic got in on the act before Stuart Pearce put the icing on the cake with a thunderous free-kick in the 87th minute.
13th January 2013:
This particular season is a forgettable one for the Blues, as they ended the season trophyless and were succumbed to a miserable FA Cup final defeat to Wigan at Wembley. But that FA Cup run did all start with a City win over City’s next Premier League opponents. Again there was another wonderful free-kick, this time from Argentine talisman Carlos Tevez. Gareth Barry added a second before Marcos Lopes, incidentally a player who has today departed the club, became the club’s youngest ever goalscorer aged 17 years and nine days.
25th January 2014:
The two sides met once more a year later in the same competition, but in this one, City found much more difficulty. By the half hour mark, Pellegrini’s side found themselves 2-0 down with the running and energy of Forestieri, Deeney and co causing City all sorts of problems.
So much so, that Pellegrini shuffled his pack at the break and brought on both Pablo Zabaleta and Vincent Kompany to sure up the backline. Jack Rodwell and Micah Richards were sacrificed, with Martin Demichelis moving into midfield alongside Yaya Toure. The move proved pivotal as City then went on to dominate the second period and scored four goals, with Sergio Aguero helping himself to a hattrick.
What is your best memory of City and Watford games? Tweet yours to @ReadManCity.
