Nuno Espirito Santo has made six changes from the team that smashed Southampton in the Carabao Cup. 

The starting XI: Hermansen; Veltman, Golambeckis, Kilman, Walker-Peters; Bowen, Kante, Engels, Solomon; Mukasa, Castellanos.

While Herrick didn’t do anything wrong, he only played because Nuno wanted to rotate the keeper for the cup and Areola was injured. So, unsurprisingly, the Denmark international comes back in for this one.

The back four was expected. Veltman keeps his place after a brilliant display vs Southampton; he starts at right back with KWP out on the left side. Mavropanos is still out due to a small injury, so Golambeckis remains at the back with Kilman. It’s risky, but we don’t have a choice as we haven’t dipped into the market to sign a new central defender.

Nuno’s only bad decision is the one to not start Lewis Orford; he should be the first name on the team sheet. The decision to start Kante over him could come back to bite us if Watford sit back and defend. Alongside Kante is the £22 million man Arne Engels. I thought he was disappointing against Charlton, but he looked bright when he came on the pitch on Tuesday.

Bowen and Solomon are obviously nailed-on starters. Taty Castellanos starts up top, which I think is harsh on Joel Piroe, who looked bright against the Saints. However, Nuno can’t drop Taty because there’s a chance he could demand an exit before the end of the window.

The biggest and most surprising call by the manager is starting Divine Mukasa. In a game we will likely dominate the ball, we need someone who can unlock a defence, and he can do that. If Piroe started alongside Taty, we might’ve had the same problems we had against Charlton last weekend.