Watford v Manchester United: Premier League – live! | Football

30 min: Watford’s lack of goals is being explained by some rather hasty attacking when they get in front of goal, and a lack of creativity. Mind you, United are hardly inspired at the same time.

28 min: United have a corner. Fred’s outswinger is cleared and then United conceded a foul in midfield. This is not great from them, not great at all.

27 min: Watford attack now, and are able to do so on the counter. Deulofeu’s surge means the ball breaks to Deeney but his shot is blocked by Harry Maguire,

26 min: United play a glacially slow passing move and Watford are happy to sit bal and soak up the pressure. This has followed the pattern that is so obvious, they are only good when on the counter.

24 min: Not much of the attacking telepathy we saw from United against City and Spurs. Their front trio are operating as satellites of each other today.

22 min: Luke Shaw makes a burst to the byline, beyond Watford’s defence, pings a ball in but there is nobody there. Jesse Lingard, so lacking in goals and assists these days, was rather rocking on his heels rather than chasing the ball down.

20 min: Watford have been decent so far, United in the lethargic mode that so angers so many of their fans. Watford have been strong in the tackle with Dan James on the end of some heavy stuff in particular.

18 min: The ball ends up in the Watford net, but there will be no goal. David de Gea was fouled, and rather less heavily than last week when Everton’s goal was allowed to stand. That the Watford players did not dispute that decision suggests they didn’t thing Calvert-Lewin’s goal should have stood, either.

16 min: Rashford tries a shot that ends up looking like a cross and Ben Foster claims with ease.

15 min: In the dugout, there’s sight of Pogba and Matic, deep in discussion, presumably about their next destination in January.

14 min: Watford’s Sarr is down, having been the victim of an inadvertent eye-gouging from Wan-Bissaka. His eyes are watering, but he should be OK to continue.

12 min: Rashford speeds down the left to force a corner that is taken short. It ends up leading to a Watford counter, but Wan-Bissaka and McTominay clear the danger.

10 min: Martial nearly escaped after Jesse Lingard’s dummy but had strayed offside.

9 min: Adrian Mariappa may well be singing soprano at Midnight Mass this Christmas after Fred larrups the ball at his crown jewels. Bravely, gingerly, he soldiers on.

8 min: Watford force a corner. Troy Deeney lurks with intent but the ball in from Will Hughes does not even beat first man Marcus Rashford.

6 min: Quick United attack, McTominay and Martial get James away, and the ball is centred for the striker, whose shot is wide. He’s disappointed with that.

5 min: United had a free-kick in a dangerous position but Dan James and then Luke Shaw when the ball came back out did not make much of it.

4 min: Early burst from Martial at centre-forward. With his back to goal, he releases Jesse Lingard and it takes some hurried defending to avert any danger.

2 min: Gerard Deulofeu v Wan-Bissaka already looks like one of the key match-ups of this game; almost all of the action so far has been down their flank.

1 min: Aaron Wan-Bissaka goes into what some call the ‘block tackle’ and looks to have hurt himself a little. He’s made of stern stuff and will try to run that off.

Nemanja Matic, United’s forgotten man, and someone surely headed for a move out next month is also on the bench.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær speaks

(On Pogba): He looks very ready and he is in good shape. Hopefully we can see the best of Paul in the next few months.

(On Mason Greenwood): He’s come off the bench a few times, and that’s what he’s got to do today. He’s got a chance of coming on if he needs to.

Nigel Pearson has beaten Manchester United before as a manager. And it was this game in 2014, one of the most ridiculous in Premier League history. At this point, I should make a personal admission: after this I predicted Jamie Vardy would never score another Premier League goal. And he didn’t for six months or so. But I was wrong, so wrong.

Nigel Pearson speaks, and he first looks back to the Liverpool game.

We created chances, we showed a strong team ethic, which we are gong to need. It’s possible to get out of the situation we are in but we are going to have sto start winning sooner or later. We have to produce performances our fans are happy with but we need results. If we create the same amount of chances as last week clearly we are going to have start taking them. I think the players are looking forward to playing Manchester United but have to be at our best.

So far, Manchester United’s social media team has not yet resorted to the #pogback hashtag. But there is time yet, even if Paul Pogba’s star does not shine nearly so brightly as in that heady summer of 2016 when Britain was heading out of the European Union and had a bright and shiny new prime minister.

And, to get back to the football, even if he were fully fit, would have the right to challenge that redoubtable midfield partnership of Fred and Scott McTominay. Both are playing the best football of their time at United.

This match will be preceded by a minute’s applause for World Cup winner Martin Peters, whose death was announced yesterday.

Here’s some overnight news on Manchester United. Ole calls the shots, apparently.

For Watford, Nigel Pearson seems to have been happy with his new charges’ performance against Liverpool and selects the same team. Troy Deeney to target Vic Lindelof?

The big news is on the Manchester United bench: Paul Pogba, whose earrings looked resplendent as he arrived at Vicarage Road. Looks like his dancing at this brother’s wedding was a mark of a return to fitness. United were a little tardy in their arrival, 30 minutes late, in fact. Their logistics teams seems to have misjudged the Hertfordshire traffic; this type of thing seems to happen rather too often.

Here’s the teams in analogue, non-social media guff fashion.

Watford starting XI: Foster, Cathcart, Hughes, Mariappa, Femenia, Kabasele, Capoue, Doucoure, Sarr, Deulofeu, Deeney

Manchester United starting XI: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, Fred, McTominay, Lingard, James, Rashford, Martial

Here’s the thing: Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Manchester United are good against good teams, and bad against bad teams. Enter Watford, who have had so abominable a season that they are already on their third manager. One win all season, and just nine goals scored: it couldn’t happen here, could it?

Enter Nigel Pearson. He’s already one game into his attempt to repeat Leicester’s great escape in the 2014-15 season and this time he can’t take any blame for his team being in the mire. Last week’s defeat to Liverpool showed positive signs, including a typically muscular approach from a Nige team. Expect to see Troy Deeney given rein to prove himself the on-pitch alpha male that his manager will be in the dug-out.

Can Ole’s embryos live up the physical battering they might have to take at the Vicarage Road? Or will Watford’s need for victory push them forward and open the space that United’s quick attackers have made hay with?

Kick-off 2pm UK time.