Even allowing for fixtures being moved for TV purposes, it’s been rare for Watford not to play at a weekend this season.
They had to watch everyone else kick off the new campaign in August when the opening match with Sheffield United was switched to a Monday, and it was the same a week later for the trip to West Brom.
However, since then, weekends have generally included a Watford match, save for the World Cup break when everyone had time off.
So what does that mean in terms of training and preparation?
“I’ll look at other scores and results, and I’ll prepare for the game like any other, even though obviously not playing until Monday means we are out of a routine,” said head coach Slaven Bilic.
“This week, Saturday is not Saturday for us – Saturday is more like Thursday. When you play on Monday, that becomes your Saturday.
“This season, certainly since the World Cup, we’ve not had to play every three days. This week is the first time we’ve played what is a normal Championship week, with a game on Saturday, then a midweek game. What is good for us and West Brom is that we then didn’t have a game on Saturday straight after.”
Bilic revealed that the footballing calendar doesn’t really have day names as the rest of us would know it.
“In this job, especially in the Championship, your week isn’t Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and so on. It’s matchday minus 3, matchday minus 2 and so on. That is how you name and count the days
“Yesterday it was minus 3 . . . we used to call that Friday!
“You know what you do on minus 3, or minus 1, or on plus 1 or plus 2 after a game. That’s how it is.”
However, Bilic is certainly not unhappy at having more time after the away trip to Burnley.
“The game being on Monday is helpful. It would have been much harder if the game hadn’t been moved and was still on Saturday. Three games in a week is never ideal.
“I will look at results today but I would never compromise how we prepare or approach a game because of other results.
“You have enough time to know the results, and at this stage of the season you can’t ignore the other games.
“It’s different if it’s the third game of the season and you can ignore what other results are at that early stage. But at this time of the season, managers look at results. It’s natural.”
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