# 2018–19 Watford F.C. season

The 2018–19 season was Watford's 120th year in their history and fourth consecutive season in the Premier League; their 11th-placed finish in the league was their highest to date in the Premier League era. They also participated in the EFL Cup and FA Cup, reaching the final of the latter before losing to Man City.
The season covers the period from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 1 July 2018 | RW | Gerard Deulofeu | Barcelona | £11,500,000 |
| 1 July 2018 | RB | Marc Navarro | Espanyol | Undisclosed |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Ben Wilmot | Stevenage | Undisclosed |
| 2 July 2018 | LB | Adam Masina | Bologna | Undisclosed |
| 5 July 2018 | GK | Ben Foster | West Bromwich Albion | Undisclosed |
| 5 July 2018 | LW | Ken Sema | Östersunds FK | £1,800,000 |
| 9 August 2018 | CM | Domingos Quina | West Ham United | £1,000,000 |
| 10 August 2018 | CM | Kwasi Sibo | Banants | Undisclosed |
| 8 January 2019 | CF | Filip Stuparević | Voždovac | £2,000,000 |
| 23 January 2019 | GK | Adam Parkes | Southampton | Undisclosed |

### Loans in

| Start date | Position | Nationality | Name | From | End date | Ref. |

### Transfers out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Fee |
| 1 July 2018 | GK | Nathan Gartside | Derry City | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | LW | Dennon Lewis | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | LB | Brandon Mason | Coventry City | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | RB | Louis Rogers | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Charlie Rowan | Queens Park Rangers | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | LW | Max Ryan | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | RB | David Sesay | Crawley Town | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Connor Stevens | Wealdstone | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | AM | Carl Stewart | Wingate & Finchley | Released |
| 3 July 2018 | GK | Costel Pantilimon | Nottingham Forest | Undisclosed |
| 6 July 2018 | ST | Mauro Zárate | Boca Juniors | Undisclosed |
| 16 July 2018 | LW | Nordin Amrabat | Al-Nassr | £4,000,000 |
| 23 July 2018 | CM | Eduardo Montenegro | Envigado | Undisclosed |
| 24 July 2018 | LW | Richarlison | Everton | £40,000,000 |
| 30 July 2018 | CB | Marian Huja | Køge | Undisclosed |
| 7 August 2018 | CF | Harvey Bradbury | Oxford United | Free transfer |
| 20 August 2018 | RB | Brice Dja Djédjé | Ankaragücü | Undisclosed |
| 21 December 2018 | CB | Younès Kaboul | Unattached | Mutual consent |
| 7 January 2019 | CF | Jubril Adedeji | Køge | Free transfer |
| 15 January 2019 | LW | Dion Pereira | Atlanta United | Undisclosed |
| 18 January 2019 | LW | Randell Williams | Exeter City | Free transfer |

### Loans out

| Start date | Position | Name | To | End date |
| 11 July 2018 | CF | Luis Suárez | Gimnàstic de Tarragona | 31 May 2019 |
| 18 July 2018 | CM | Jaime Alvarado | Hércules | 31 May 2019 |
| 20 July 2018 | CF | Juan Camilo Becerra | Teruel | 31 May 2019 |
| 23 July 2018 | RW | Dodi Lukebakio | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 31 May 2019 |
| 24 July 2018 | CF | Harvey Bradbury | Hungerford Town | 18 August 2018 |
| 25 July 2018 | CB | Tommie Hoban | Aberdeen | 31 May 2019 |
| 25 July 2018 | CF | Jerome Sinclair | Sunderland | 10 January 2019 |
| 27 July 2018 | LW | Randell Williams | Wycombe Wanderers | 2 January 2019 |
| 30 July 2018 | AM | Matheus Santana | Ejea | 31 May 2019 |
| 8 August 2018 | GK | Daniel Bachmann | Kilmarnock | 31 May 2019 |
| 9 August 2018 | CF | Alex Jakubiak | Bristol Rovers | 31 May 2019 |
| 10 August 2018 | LB | Pervis Estupiñán | Mallorca | 31 May 2019 |
| 22 August 2018 | CF | Matheus Aias | Mirandés | 31 May 2019 |
| 23 August 2018 | RB | Kingsley Fobi | UD Ibiza | 31 May 2019 |
| 23 August 2018 | RB | Dimitri Foulquier | Getafe | 31 May 2019 |
| 23 August 2018 | CF | Obbi Oularé | Standard Liège | 31 May 2019 |
| 27 August 2018 | CB | Williams Velásquez | Sabadell | 31 December 2018 |
| 31 August 2018 | CM | Sulayman Marreh | Eupen | 31 May 2019 |
| 27 December 2018 | CB | Jorge Segura | Atlas | 31 May 2019 |
| 1 January 2019 | GK | Sam Howes | Eastbourne Borough | February 2019 |
| 1 January 2019 | CB | Williams Velásquez | JEF United Chiba | 2 January 2020 |
| 5 January 2019 | RB | Andrew Eleftheriou | Braintree Town | 31 May 2019 |
| 8 January 2019 | CF | Stefano Okaka | Udinese | 30 June 2019 |
| 10 January 2019 | LB | Marvin Zeegelaar | Udinese | 30 June 2019 |
| 31 January 2019 | DF | Ashley Charles | Barnet | 30 June 2019 |
| 31 January 2019 | FW | Michael Folivi | AFC Wimbledon | 30 June 2019 |
| 31 January 2019 | CF | Jerome Sinclair | Oxford United | 30 June 2019 |
| 31 January 2019 | CB | Ben Wilmot | Udinese | 30 June 2019 |

## Friendlies

Watford confirmed pre-season friendlies with 1. FC Köln, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Stevenage, Brentford and Sampdoria.

## Competitions
### Premier League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 9 | Leicester City | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 51 | 48 | +3 | 52 |
| 10 | West Ham United | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 52 | 55 | −3 | 52 |
| 11 | Watford | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 52 | 59 | −7 | 50 |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | 38 | 14 | 7 | 17 | 51 | 53 | −2 | 49 |
| 13 | Newcastle United | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 42 | 48 | −6 | 45 |

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | H | A | H | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H |
| Result | W | W | W | W | L | D | L | L | W | W | L | D | L | L | L | D | W | W | L | D | D | W | D | L | D | W | W | L | W | L | L | W | L | W | D | L | L | L |
| Position | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |

#### Matches

On 14 June 2018, the Premier League fixtures for the forthcoming season were announced.

### FA Cup

The third round draw was made live on BBC by Ruud Gullit and Paul Ince from Stamford Bridge on 3 December 2018. The fourth round draw was made live on BBC by Robbie Keane and Carl Ikeme from Wolverhampton on 7 January 2019. The fifth round draw was broadcast on 28 January 2019 live on BBC, Alex Scott and Ian Wright conducted the draw. The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 18 February by Darren Fletcher & Wayne Bridge.

### EFL Cup

The second round draw was made from the Stadium of Light on 16 August. The third round draw was made on 30 August 2018 by David Seaman and Joleon Lescott.

## Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Premier League | Premier League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | BRA | Heurelho Gomes | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | GK | ENG | Ben Foster | 38 | 0 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 2 | DF | NED | Daryl Janmaat | 22 | 0 | 17+1 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | URU | Miguel Britos | 6 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | AUT | Sebastian Prödl | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | JAM | Adrian Mariappa | 32 | 0 | 20+6 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | ITA | Adam Masina | 20 | 0 | 11+3 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | NIR | Craig Cathcart | 41 | 3 | 35+1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | ESP | Kiko Femenía | 34 | 1 | 22+7 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | ESP | Marc Navarro | 5 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | GRE | José Holebas | 32 | 3 | 27+1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | BEL | Christian Kabasele | 23 | 0 | 19+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 8 | MF | ENG | Tom Cleverley | 17 | 1 | 4+9 | 1 | 2+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | SWE | Ken Sema | 22 | 1 | 9+8 | 1 | 1+2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ENG | Nathaniel Chalobah | 13 | 0 | 3+6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | FRA | Abdoulaye Doucouré | 40 | 5 | 34+1 | 5 | 3+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | ENG | Will Hughes | 40 | 3 | 31+1 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | POR | Domingos Quina | 13 | 2 | 3+5 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 29 | MF | FRA | Étienne Capoue | 39 | 4 | 33 | 1 | 4+1 | 2 | 0+1 | 1 |
| 37 | MF | ARG | Roberto Pereyra | 36 | 6 | 33 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | ESP | Gerard Deulofeu | 33 | 12 | 26+4 | 10 | 2+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | ENG | Troy Deeney | 37 | 11 | 28+4 | 9 | 4+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | NGA | Isaac Success | 35 | 4 | 9+21 | 1 | 2+1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 17 | FW | VEN | Adalberto Peñaranda | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | ENG | Andre Gray | 34 | 9 | 13+16 | 7 | 3+2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Players transferred out during the season ||||||||||||
| 24 | DF | ENG | Ben Wilmot | 6 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 33 | FW | ITA | Stefano Okaka | 3 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
Last updated: 18 May 2019 Source: Competitions