Match Pack: Southampton v Watford

Watford and Southampton are becoming quite familiar with one another, with this replay marking their third meeting in just under two months.

Both the other meetings ended 1-1 at Vicarage Road, and followed similar trends of one team taking an early lead, and the other side responding with a late equaliser.

Stuart Armstrong struck late in the original fourth-round fixture to maintain the Saints' club record unbeaten run, which has since been stretched to 23 matches following a 2-0 win away at Rotherham United last time out.

This victory, along with other results going in their favour, saw Russell Martin's side lifted into the automatic promotion spots in the Sky Bet Championship as they look for an immediate return to the Premier League.

Watford have won on just two of their last eight visits to St Mary's (D2 L4), including a 1-0 defeat at this stage in the FA Cup in 2018.

Southampton's run of 23 games unbeaten in all competitions is the longest in the club's history, but is not even halfway to matching Arsenal's record of 49 without defeat from May 2003 to October 2004.

Watford will be looking to make it to the fifth-round of the FA Cup for just the third time in 15 seasons, with five defeats coming at this stage.

Watford will still be without Edo Kayembe and Jeremy Ngakia, although both are making positive steps in their recovery.

Ngakia took training with the first-team on Monday (February 5), with this game just a bit too soon for the right-back, while it is hoped Kayembe will be back with the squad later this week.

No new injury concerns have been reported after the 1-0 defeat to Cardiff City on Saturday (February 3), although Emmanuel Dennis has been left out of the squad as he continues to get back up to speed.

Southampton will be without new signing David Brooks, who is cup-tied, while Kamaldeen Sulemana and James Bree are still injured.

Valérien Ismaël, Watford Head Coach:

"We were really close to beating them so if any team is able to beat them, then we are the team because I think we played them twice, and we saw we were really close.

"We created a lot of chances against them, but now it is an away game so something different, but we know how to play against Southampton."

Stuart Gill, Southampton Assistant Manager:

"[The original cup tie] was an interesting game.

"We made changes because we felt it was right to do that, and there'll more than likely be changes again tomorrow night from Saturday's game."

Overall:

Won: 27 Drawn: 24 Lost: 38

Last Six:

January 2024: Watford 1-1 Southampton (Emirates FA Cup) December 2023: Watford 1-1 Southampton (Sky Bet Championship) March 2022: Southampton 1-2 Watford (Premier League) October 2021: Watford 0-1 Southampton (Premier League) June 2020: Watford 1-3 Southampton (Premier League) November 2019: Southampton 2-1 Watford (Premier League)