RAY LEWINGTON is planning to "tinker" with his line-up in appreciation of Sunderland's strengths as Watford aim to put a dent in the automatic promotion ambitions of the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light tomorrow (Saturday, February 12).
"It's not going to be too different," said the manager of his likely team yesterday (Thursday, February 10). "I'm going to tinker with it because there's one or two doubts, but only slightly. We have looked at Sunderland's strengths and the team will be geared slightly to counteract where they are good, but in terms of personnel it is not too much of a change."
Watford travel north to Wearside today with only one injury doubt. Paul Devlin has an on-going toe problem and Lewington said: "He's had it all season. It's not a worry but it niggles and it obviously affects him it does affect his game but we'll just see how it goes."
Should Devlin be ruled out, that is likely to clear the way for Chris Eagles to be promoted from the bench.
The Manchester United loanee staked his claim for a place in the starting XI with an eye-catching substitute appearance against Gillingham last week, capping it with a memorable solo goal in the last minute to seal the fortuitous 2-0 victory.
"He certainly comes into contention," admitted Lewington earlier this week, "but Sunderland are very strong on their left side. I have got a couple of teams in my head but I'm not quite sure."
For all the news from Vicarage Road, don't miss this week's edition of the Watford Observer.
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