# 2020–21 Watford F.C. season

The 2020–21 season was the 122nd season in existence of Watford Football Club and their first season back in the Championship following relegation from the Premier League in the previous season. Watford competed in the FA Cup and in the EFL Cup.
With their win over Millwall on 24 April 2021, Watford confirmed their promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

## Players
### Current squad

    As of 11 February 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Ben Foster |
| 3 | DF | ENG | Jeremy Ngakia |
| 5 | DF | NGA | William Troost-Ekong |
| 6 | DF | ENG | Ben Wilmot |
| 7 | FW | DEN | Philip Zinckernagel |
| 8 | MF | ENG | Tom Cleverley (vice-captain) |
| 9 | FW | ENG | Troy Deeney (captain) |
| 10 | FW | BRA | João Pedro |
| 11 | DF | MAR | Adam Masina |
| 12 | MF | SWE | Ken Sema |
| 14 | MF | ENG | Nathaniel Chalobah (3rd captain) |
| 15 | DF | NIR | Craig Cathcart |
| 16 | MF | ENG | Dan Gosling |
| 17 | DF | MAR | Achraf Lazaar |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | FW | JAM | Andre Gray |
| 19 | MF | ENG | Will Hughes (4th captain) |
| 21 | DF | ESP | Kiko Femenía |
| 22 | FW | NGA | Isaac Success |
| 23 | FW | SEN | Ismaïla Sarr |
| 24 | MF | NGA | Tom Dele-Bashiru |
| 25 | FW | CRO | Stipe Perica |
| 26 | GK | AUT | Daniel Bachmann |
| 27 | DF | BEL | Christian Kabasele |
| 28 | MF | COL | Carlos Sánchez |
| 31 | DF | CHI | Francisco Sierralta |
| 32 | DF | ESP | Marc Navarro |
| 33 | GK | IRL | Rob Elliot |
| 35 | GK | ENG | Adam Parkes |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 14 August 2020 | RB | Jeremy Ngakia | West Ham United | Free transfer |
| 7 September 2020 | CF | Stipe Perica | Udinese | Undisclosed |
| 9 September 2020 | CB | Francisco Sierralta | Udinese | Undisclosed |
| 15 September 2020 | LB | Toby Stevenson | Charlton Athletic | Free transfer |
| 24 September 2020 | CB | Maxwell Statham | Tottenham Hotspur | Free transfer |
| 29 September 2020 | CB | William Troost-Ekong | Udinese | Undisclosed |
| 1 December 2020 | AM | Phoenix Patterson | Unattached | Free transfer |
| 1 January 2021 | FW | Djibril Touré | Ceffomig FC | Undisclosed |
| 1 January 2021 | RW | Philip Zinckernagel | FK Bodø/Glimt | Free transfer |
| 14 January 2021 | CF | Tiago Çukur | AZ Alkmaar | Free transfer |
| 25 January 2021 | CM | Henry Ochieng | Cork City | Undisclosed |
| 28 January 2021 | GK | Rob Elliot | Newcastle United | Free transfer |
| 31 January 2021 | CM | Dan Gosling | Bournemouth | Undisclosed |
| 31 January 2021 | RW | Maurizio Pochettino | Tottenham Hotspur | Free transfer |
| 1 February 2021 | AM | Mitchel Bergkamp | Almere City | Free transfer |
| 11 February 2021 | LB | Achraf Lazaar | Newcastle United | Free transfer |
| 4 March 2021 | DM | Carlos Sánchez | West Ham United | Free transfer |

### Loans in

| Date from | Position | Nationality | Name | From | Date until | Ref. |
| 1 September 2020 | CF | | Glenn Murray | Brighton & Hove Albion | 30 January 2021 | |
| 18 September 2020 | DM | | James Garner | Manchester United | 30 January 2021 | |

### Loans out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Date until |
| 23 July 2020 | CM | Jaime Alvarado | Athletico Paranaense | End of season |
| 4 August 2020 | CM | Matheus Santana | Recreativo Huelva | End of season |
| 7 August 2020 | LW | Ryan Cassidy | Accrington Stanley | End of season |
| 9 August 2020 | AM | Juergen Elitim | Ponferradina | End of season |
| 11 August 2020 | GK | Pontus Dahlberg | BK Häcken | End of season |
| 12 August 2020 | CM | Kwasi Sibo | UD Ibiza | End of season |
| 14 August 2020 | CF | Cucho Hernández | Getafe | End of season |
| 20 August 2020 | RB | Kingsley Fobi | Recreativo Granada | End of 2021–22 season |
| 2 September 2020 | CB | Jorge Segura | Atlético Nacional | 31 December 2020 |
| 18 September 2020 | MF | Harry Forster | Bromley | End of season |
| 18 September 2020 | GK | Myles Roberts | Wingate & Finchley | 14 October 2020 |
| 5 October 2020 | CB | Derek Agyakwa | Como 1907 | End of season |
| 5 October 2020 | LW | Gerard Deulofeu | Udinese | 30 January 2021 |
| 5 October 2020 | RW | Ignacio Pussetto | Udinese | End of season |
| 5 October 2020 | FW | Adalberto Peñaranda | CSKA Sofia | End of season |
| 5 October 2020 | FW | Jerome Sinclair | CSKA Sofia | End of season |
| 12 October 2020 | CB | Craig Dawson | West Ham United | End of season |
| 16 October 2020 | CB | Bayli Spencer-Adams | Dover Athletic | 31 January 2021 |
| 12 November 2020 | LW | Joseph Hungbo | Aldershot Town | 8 January 2021 |
| 1 February 2021 | CM | Domingos Quina | Granada | End of season |
| 1 February 2021 | FW | Djibril Touré | R. Charleroi S.C. | End of season |
| 1 February 2021 | CB | George Langston | Wealdstone | Short-term |
| 19 February 2021 | CF | Sam Dalby | Stockport County | March 2021 |
| 16 April 2021 | RW | Sonny Blu Lo-Everton | Wealdstone | End of season |

### Transfers out

| Date | Position | Name | To | Fee |
| 1 July 2020 | CM | Emmanuel Adebiyi | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | RB | Jamal Balogun | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | LW | Jayden Bennetts | Paderborn 07 | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | CF | Michael Folivi | Colchester United | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | LB | Lewis Gordon | Brentford | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | LB | Cameron Green | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | SS | Kaylen Hinds | Aldershot Town | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | GK | James Hoskins | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | CB | Harry Hudson | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | CM | Ryan Maclean | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | CB | James Matthews | Unattached | Released |
| 1 July 2020 | DM | Imaad Sankoh | Unattached | Released |
| 24 July 2020 | RB | Dimitri Foulquier | Granada | Undisclosed |
| 1 August 2020 | GK | Heurelho Gomes | Retired | N/A |
| 1 August 2020 | LB | José Holebas | Olympiacos | Released |
| 1 August 2020 | CB | Adrian Mariappa | Bristol City | Released |
| 1 August 2020 | DM | Callum Whelan | Oldham Athletic | Released |
| 5 August 2020 | CF | Alex Jakubiak | Dundee | Free transfer |
| 21 August 2020 | CF | Matheus Aiás | Orlando City | Undisclosed |
| 26 August 2020 | CF | Juan Camilo Becerra | Espanyol | Undisclosed |
| 8 September 2020 | CM | Abdoulaye Doucouré | Everton | £20,000,000 |
| 18 September 2020 | GK | Harvey White | Woking | Free transfer |
| 16 September 2020 | LB | Pervis Estupiñán | Villarreal | £15,000,000 |
| 28 September 2020 | AM | Roberto Pereyra | Udinese | Undisclosed |
| 2 October 2020 | CF | Luis Suárez | Granada | £10,000,000 |
| 6 October 2020 | CF | Danny Welbeck | Brighton & Hove Albion | Released |
| 29 December 2020 | RB | Daryl Janmaat | ADO Den Haag | Undisclosed |
| 30 December 2020 | DM | Étienne Capoue | Villarreal | Undisclosed |
| 30 January 2021 | LW | Gerard Deulofeu | Udinese | Undisclosed |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Championship | 11 September 2020 | 8 May 2021 | Matchday 1 | 2nd | 46 | 27 | 10 | 9 | 63 | 30 | +33 | 058.70 |
| FA Cup | 9 January 2021 | 9 January 2021 | Third round | Third round | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 000.00 |
| EFL Cup | 14 September 2020 | 22 September 2020 | Second round | Third round | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 000.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 49 | 27 | 11 | 11 | 65 | 35 | +30 | 055.10 |
Source: Soccerway

### Championship
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Norwich City (C, P) | 46 | 29 | 10 | 7 | 75 | 36 | +39 | 97 | Promotion to the Premier League |
| 2 | Watford (P) | 46 | 27 | 10 | 9 | 63 | 30 | +33 | 91 | Promotion to the Premier League |
| 3 | Brentford (O, P) | 46 | 24 | 15 | 7 | 79 | 42 | +37 | 87 | Qualification for Championship play-offs |
| 4 | Swansea City | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 56 | 39 | +17 | 80 | Qualification for Championship play-offs |
| 5 | Barnsley | 46 | 23 | 9 | 14 | 58 | 50 | +8 | 78 | Qualification for Championship play-offs |
| 6 | Bournemouth | 46 | 22 | 11 | 13 | 73 | 46 | +27 | 77 | Qualification for Championship play-offs |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 8 May 2021. Source:

#### 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 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | D | W | L | W | W | D | D | L | W | W | D | D | W | D | L | W | W | D | L | W | L | W | W | W | D | L | D | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | L | W | W | L | W |
| Position | 10 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |

#### Matches

The 2020–21 season fixtures were released on 21 August.

### FA Cup

The third round draw was made on 30th November, with Premier League and EFL Championship clubs all entering the competition.

### EFL Cup

The draw for both the second and third round were confirmed on September 6, live on Sky Sports by Phil Babb.

## Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Championship | Championship | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | ENG | Ben Foster | 23 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | GK | AUT | Daniel Bachmann | 26 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | SWE | Pontus Dahlberg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | GK | IRL | Rob Elliot | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | GK | ENG | Adam Parkes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 3 | DF | ENG | Jeremy Ngakia | 26 | 0 | 18+7 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | NGA | William Troost-Ekong | 33 | 1 | 31+1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ENG | Ben Wilmot | 27 | 1 | 14+11 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | MAR | Adam Masina | 26 | 2 | 21+4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | NIR | Craig Cathcart | 25 | 1 | 20+5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | MAR | Achraf Lazaar | 5 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | ESP | Kiko Femenía | 37 | 0 | 36+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | BEL | Christian Kabasele | 21 | 1 | 19+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | CHI | Francisco Sierralta | 29 | 1 | 24+2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | ESP | Marc Navarro | 8 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 47 | DF | ENG | Toby Stevenson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 8 | MF | ENG | Tom Cleverley | 34 | 4 | 32+2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | SWE | Ken Sema | 43 | 6 | 38+3 | 5 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 1 |
| 14 | MF | ENG | Nathaniel Chalobah | 40 | 3 | 32+6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | ENG | Dan Gosling | 14 | 2 | 6+7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | ENG | Will Hughes | 31 | 2 | 21+9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | NGA | Tom Dele-Bashiru | 2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | COL | Carlos Sánchez | 9 | 0 | 2+7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | MF | ESP | Maurizio Pochettino | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | MF | ENG | Joseph Hungbo | 6 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 49 | MF | BER | Kane Crichlow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 52 | MF | TRI | Daniel Phillips | 5 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | DEN | Philip Zinckernagel | 21 | 1 | 9+11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | ENG | Troy Deeney | 19 | 7 | 14+5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | BRA | João Pedro | 40 | 9 | 31+7 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | JAM | Andre Gray | 31 | 5 | 14+16 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | FW | NGA | Isaac Success | 10 | 1 | 3+7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | SEN | Ismaïla Sarr | 40 | 13 | 39 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | CRO | Stipe Perica | 18 | 1 | 2+14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| Players transferred out during the season ||||||||||||
| 4 | DF | ENG | Craig Dawson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 45 | DF | NED | Derek Agyakwa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | POR | Domingos Quina | 15 | 1 | 8+6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | MF | ARG | Ignacio Pussetto | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | FW | VEN | Adalberto Peñaranda | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 1 |
| 17 | FW | ENG | Glenn Murray | 6 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | ENG | Jerome Sinclair | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Last updated: 8 May 2021 Source: Competitions