England Championship Betting Tips - Crystal Palace v Watford

England Championship Betting Predictions - Crystal Palace v Watford (18/08 15:00)

Two more Premier league old boys face off in a fascinating battle between two teams heading in different directions. Crystal Palace have battled from several bouts of administration after mis-management, they have the bare bones of a squad but do have a few very exciting youngsters. Watford on the other hand go into the season with heightened optimism. The wealthy Italian Pozzo family have taken control and brought in a rake of foreign players and coach Gianfranco Zola.

Crystal Palace have a very threadbare squad, they lost their three best players from last season in Nathan Clyne,Darren Ambrose and Sean Scanell. They have only spend 500K of the £4 million those transfers brought in. Aaron Wilbraham was a good signing as he is good goalscorer.  Peter Ramage arrives on a free and is a solid centre half. Palace have a great knack of producing quality youngsters. Wilfried Zaha is the current star man, a really exciting forward with all the attributes to go far. Its only a matter of time before he gets sold, The eagles simply cannot afford to keep him. Watford released a host of players but only one was of any worth, Adrian Mariappa moved to Reading. The reason for the exodus was to accomodate the incoming transfers Watford will now get from Udinese and Granada. The new owners also run these two clubs and like to spread the playing talent around. From Udinese came midfielder Almen Abdi and forwards Alex Geijo, Matej Vydra and Leo Beleck. Incoming from Granada are left back Daniel Pudil and winger Ikechi Anya. Two players arrive from the Premier league in Manuel Almunia and centre back Fitz Hall. Watford's squad is immense in size so coach Zola has a task to pick an eleven to start the game.

Head to Head: Games played:30

• Crystal Palace Wins:13
• Draws:7
• Watford Wins:10

Average goals per game:2.80

Predictions - Crystal Palace are in all sorts of bother and will be one to oppose when a few games have passed. Likewise Watford could be anything, the level of players they are drafting in are of a standard much higher than this division but it will be impossible to gauge without viewing first. Two sides to keep and eye on but we will leave this game alone.No Bet in this game.