Hornets Could Be Trapped By Streetwise Pulis

We’re all guilty of over-reacting to the first matches of a new season but if this leads to some surprisingly great prices emerging in Week 2 then we should be delighted.

Take for example the return of Premier League football to Vicarage Road today. Newly promoted Watford are nothing longer than 23/20 (Paddy Power) to win while West Brom are somehow available at 3/1 with one firm.

There is no doubt that the Hornets played exceptionally well at Goodison Park to draw 2-2 last weekend and it is also true that the Baggies surrendered pretty meekly 3-0 at home to Man City.

But this isn’t how it will be all the time. One of the reasons why promoted teams tend to struggle in the top flight is that they face wily campaigners like Tony Pulis.

The former Stoke and Palace boss has a long track record of steadying the ship and leading pretty moderately sized clubs to at least mid-table respectability. He has done this by winning fixtures such as this.

Both Norwich and Bournemouth lost last week in front of their own fans so we can see that a party atmosphere is absolutely no guarantee of success for the new boys.