Ahead of this weekend’s matches, only seven points separated Bournemouth in ninth place on 31 points and Huddersfield Town in 19th. On Boxing Day they were in 18th place, drawing 3-3 with West Ham and without a win in eight previous games. It was Javi Gracia’s first home game as Watford manager and he could not have wished for a better debut at Vicarage Road. Sitting in 18th place were Stoke City who considered themselves unfortunate to lose at Bournemouth last week. With so much on the line, the old maxim of “there’s nothing wrong with 17th place” will soon be occupying the mind of many managers.

Source: Bangkok Post February 10, 2018 22:07 UTC