Watford's last 15 against City? Lost 15, conceded 58

Watford have a truly awful recent record against Manchester City.

When the highly-controversial seeded draw for the Carabao Cup third round was made, and City’s name was pulled out of the hat at home, there was almost a painful and torturous air of the inevitable about what would come next.

“Number 25 . . . that’s Watford.”

In Hornet households across Hertfordshire and beyond there was a collective groan, a muttering of ‘for ****’s sake’ and preparation for several weeks of banter with fellow football fans about how many Watford would lose by.

It’s not just that Watford keep losing to City, it’s the margin and manner of the defeats which makes this ‘bonus’ encounter with the reigning Premier League champions even more daunting.

In half of last 10 meetings between the two, City have scored five or more goals. In the same period, Watford have also managed five . . . in total.

Let’s get the overall stats out of the way first: the Hornets have lost all of their last 15 games against the Citizens.

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In that sequence, Watford have scored eight goals. City have scored 58.

Former City striker Sergio Aguero scored 11 times in eight games during the same period.

Of course, there are a couple of games in particular that are especially hard to forget for Watford fans.

Tom Cleverley (8) cuts a dejected figure after Watford's 8-0 battering at the Etihad in 2019. (Image: Action Images)

When the cup tie takes place at the Etihad on September 24, it will be precisely three years and three days since the humiliation of going there and being beaten 8-0.

It looked like it was going to a humbling of even more monumentally embarrassing proportions when City raced into a 5-0 lead after only 18 minutes.

Thankfully for Watford – who had Tom Cleverley in midfield that day – the goals slowed down and the hosts added only three more in the second half.

To be fair, as much as the Hornets were ripped apart and the scoreline reflects it, City only had 11 on-target goal attempts that afternoon. They were just lethal, and while 11 is still a high number, Watford created 12 when they beat MK Dons earlier this season.

What compounded the misery of conceding eight was that it happened four months after losing 6-0 to City in a game watched by a global audience that exceeded 500,000,000 – the 2019 FA Cup Final.

To reach a Wembley denouement is an achievement in itself, and it was of course only Watford’s second FA Cup Final appearance.

A painfully familiar sight at Wembley on May 18, 2019... (Image: Action Images)

That it was against the star-studded, all-conquering side assembled by Pep Guardiola had a few alarm bells ringing before May 18, 2019 – though City might not have even got there had VAR been in operation when they came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at Swansea in the quarter-finals.

The penalty they were awarded to draw level in the 78th minute was very controversial, and TV replays showed Aguero was just offside when he headed in the 88th-minute winner.

Nonetheless, the record books will show that City thumped Watford 6-0 in the final equalling the biggest FA Cup Final win since Bury beat Derby by the same scoreline in 1903.

The Hornets were outclassed – yet even then there were a couple of ‘what if’ moments, firstly when Roberto Pereyra went clear but saw keeper Ederson block and then when referee Kevin Friend waved away penalty appeals for a foul on Abdoulaye Doucoure by Vincent Kompany.

To give the scoreline some context, City had scored five or more goals in a match 10 times already that season, including thumping Burton 9-0 in a League Cup tie three days after beating Rotherham 6-0 in the FA Cup.

They also beat Chelsea 6-0 in the Premier League, and hammered German side Schalke 7-0 in the Champions League.

So the 8-0 and 6-0 at Wembley are two of the defeats that are permanent stains on Watford memories, and not the event most recent game against City – on April 23, 2022 – offers any light relief as that was a 5-1 bashing at the Etihad, when Hassane Kamara scored for the Hornets.

Home games have been equally torrid too.

Sergio Aguero celebrates one of his three goals in City's 6-0 at Vicarage Road in September 2017. (Image: Action Images)

In September 2017, City hammered Watford 6-0 at Vicarage Road, having won 5-0 in WD18 in May of the same year. Aguero scored five of the 11 goals.

To find the last time Watford didn’t lose a match to Manchester City you have to go back to April 21, 2007, when a Tamas Prisken goal 15 minutes from time earned Aidy Boothroyd’s side a 1-1 draw after Darius Vassell had given City the lead in the 53rd minute.

Earlier that season was the last time the Hornets kept a clean sheet against Manchester City when the pair played out a 0-0 draw at the Etihad.

But to remember beating City, a Watford fan would probably need to be in their 40s.

That’s because it was way back on Saturday March 4, 1989, when Iwan Roberts scored the only goal in a 1-0 triumph under manager Steve Harrison in front of a crowd of 15,747 at Vicarage Road as the Hornets were on their way to an unsuccessful bid to return to the top-flight via the play-offs.

Iwan Roberts: the last man to score a Watford winner against Manchester City. (Image: Action Images)

The likes of Nigel Gibbs, Tony Coton, Gary Porter and John McClelland played for Watford in that fixture – you can see brief highlights from that game online.

If you want to find the last time Watford won at City, it was well before the Etihad had been built.

It was a game at the old Maine Road on April 18, 1987, when Graham Taylor’s side beat City 2-1 with goals from David Bardsley and Worrell Sterling in front of an attendance of 18,541.

And while Watford have only played at City once in the League Cup and lost (3-1, January 25, 1988), they have won there in the FA Cup.

That came in a fourth round second replay on February 6, 1986 (back in the day ties could go to multiple replays) after the two teams had drawn 1-1 at Vicarage Road and 0-0 at Maine Road.

City had won the toss for home advantage in the second replay, but goals from John Barnes, Neil Smillie and Sterling secured a 3-1 away win.

Overall, Watford and City have met 32 times in league and cup games, and Watford have won only six. City have triumphed 21 times, and there have been five draws.