Ryan Mason has perfect plan vs Watford as West Brom seek 18-year first
Ryan Mason and West Brom go in search of back-to-back wins when they take on Watford at Vicarage Road on Wednesday.
Brilliant goals from Mikey Johnston and Isaac Price earned West Brom a 2-1 win over Preston at the weekend, putting the 3-0 loss to Millwall two weeks ago to one side.
Mason left some West Brom fans baffled with his selection for the match, but it ultimately paid off in a return to winning ways.
A trip to Hertfordshire now awaits, with Watford considered the slight favourites to beat West Brom.
West Brom have poor record at Vicarage Road
Watford are five points worse off than Albion in 15th place, making Opta’s supercomputer prediction above slightly surprising on the face of it.
However, delve deeper into the statistics and it is easy to see why this is considered a banana skin fixture of sorts.
The Baggies have not won on their past seven league visits to Vicarage Road, losing four and drawing three of those matches, since a 3-0 win in November 2007.
Albion are therefore seeking a first away league win at Watford in 18 years, but snapping that run here will not be easy.
Watford have just appointed Javi Gracia, with the Spaniard tasting defeat to Sheffield United in his first game in charge.
The visit of West Brom will mark Gracia’s first league game at Vicarage Road since returning to Watford.
Ryan Mason knows exactly how to get better of Watford
Mason revealed at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday that Toby Collyer has been ruled out through injury.
The former Tottenham coach also spoke about the challenges that come with facing a team that have just appointed a new manager.
| Scoreline | Venue | Date |
| West Brom 2-1 Watford | The Hawthorns | April 2025 |
| Watford 2-1 West Brom | Vicarage Road | December 2024 |
| West Brom 2-2 Watford | The Hawthorns | April 2024 |
However, rather than seeing that as a negative, Mason is hoping to use it to his side’s advantage in midweek.
“We play against a team with a new manager in his first home game, so there’s going to be added energy inside the stadium,” he said.
“I think for us it’s important to try and use that to our benefit, and use it to give us the energy to try and put ourselves inside of the game as much as possible – and as early as possible.”
West Brom simply need to get at Watford from the off and not sit off.
There is a reason why Albion are so many points better off than the Hornets, and there is no reason why that margin cannot grow by three more points here.
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