Preview: Watford vs Crawley Town - prediction, team news, lineups

Meeting for the first time in a competitive fixture, Watford will welcome Crawley Town to Vicarage Road in the opening round of the EFL Cup on Saturday.

The Hornets were eliminated in their first match of the tournament last year, 2-1 by Norwich City, while Crawley defeated York City 2-0 to advance into this phase of the competition in 2026-27.

Match preview

Alessio Dionisi will get his first taste of managing a competitive English football fixture this weekend, with the Italian hired as the Watford coach earlier this summer.

The man who guided Empoli to a Serie B promotion in Italy back in 2020-21 will be entrusted with instilling some confidence in this team’s backline, which conceded 65 times in the Championship a season ago.

In this pre-season, the 46-year-old won just one of his four matches at the helm, with his side blanking Hansa 3-0 at Vicarage Road in late July.

Watford have a reputation for struggling against teams below them in the EFL, with a lower-tiered side eliminating them from this competition on four of the last five occasions.

The club from Hertfordshire have won two of their last three Carabao Cup outings at Vicarage Road but lost the last one to Norwich City last year.

After progressing from 10 of 11 first round League Cup games between 2003 and 2014, the Hornets have been ousted in round one in two of the last three instances.

It was a solid start to the Carabao Cup for Crawley Town, who made the most of their opportunities in the preliminary round.

Colin Kazim-Richards saw his side have fewer than 40% possession, but they held York City to just two efforts on target while looking poised defensively throughout the 90 minutes.

That was the first time this club had ever kept a clean sheet in this tournament, while they can win their third League Cup outing in their last 15 attempts this weekend.

With a victory on Saturday, Crawley Town will advance into round two of the Carabao Cup for the first time since 2024, eliminating Swindon Town that year before losing to Brighton and Hove Albion.

This decade, they have lost all four of their away matches played in this competition by a combined margin of 12-3.

The Red Devils will face a Championship team in the EFL Cup for the 12th time on Saturday, having lost six of those last seven meetings after progressing in three of the first four.

Watford Pre-season form:

Crawley Town EFL Cup form:

Crawley Town Pre-season form:

Team News

Federico Ravaglia is unlikely to be available for Watford on Saturday as he recovers from a back injury, though fellow goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann should be good to go despite previously suffering a knock.

Luca Kjerrumgaard, who led them with nine Championship goals last season, is seeking his first of this competition with them after signing a permanent deal in July.

Earlier this week, Crawley Town loaned Danny Cashman to Boreham Wood, while Ben Radcliffe was loaned to Yeovil at the beginning of August.

Gianmarco Di Biase made an impact in their opening-round victory, with the newcomer from Juventus netting the winner in the first half and Danilo Orsi putting the match to bed by converting a penalty in the latter stages.

Watford possible starting lineup:

Bachmann; Ngakia, Pollock, Keben, Bola; Bove, Kyprianou, Nabizada; Chikovani, Kjerrumgaard, Bravo

Crawley Town possible starting lineup:

Mannone; Gordon, Farquharson, Barker, Russell; Arthurs, Williams; Ebiowei, Watson, Duke-Mckenna; Di Biase