Still smarting from his Newcastle side's abject surrender to Man City at The Etihad on Wednesday night, Steve Bruce indicated he expected his Magpies to bounce back at Vicarage Road tomorrow as they have from every set-back so far this season:

Against Man City, Newcastle lacked the leadership and defensive organisation of Captain Jamaal Lascelles at the back plus the ball-carrying skills of his two key forwards Allan Saint-Maximum and Miguel Almiron, whose ability to transition the black and whites from one end of the pitch to the other rapidly was noticeable in its absence and Bruce is hopeful all three will return against Watford.

Of course Newcastle were up right up against it versus Pep Guardiola's Man City who have returned after lockdown with a point to prove after Liverpool took their Premier League title off them while they could still win a historic treble of both domestic Cups and the trophy that has proven so elusive for them, The Champions League.

At home in Manchester their results have been outstanding, beating Arsenal 3-0, Burnley 5-0 and Champions Liverpool 4-0 yet Bruce was livid at the "manner" of Newcastle's own 5-0 defeat and vowed to finish the season on a high.

Up next is a Watford side now managed by Nigel Pearson, a team Newcastle drew 1-1 with at St. James' Park early in the campaign thanks to Fabian Schar equalizing a first minute goal from Will Hughes after a cruel deflection left Dubravka with little chance:

Watford have been at the wrong end of the table all season and are onto their third manager of the 19/20 campaign and ninth in eight years after Javi Garcia started the season in charge only to be replaced by Quique Sanchez Florez only for him to be sacked as well after failing to arrest a run of defeats including an 8-0 loss at Man City.

Pearson's appointment in December had the desired affect and was the shot in the arm the Hornets desperately needed and produced wins against Man United and Wolves at Vicarage Road followed by the sword-in-the-stone win against previously unbeaten Liverpool in January and how - a 3-0 rout on the day:

Yet their fortunes in Project Restart have been underwhelming so far with a win against Norwich and draw with Leicester offsetting defeats against Chelsea, Burnley and Southampton and the ever-quotable Pearson compared the "sterile" playing in empty arenas to actors transitioning from live theatre displays to television roles:

“I suppose the only analogy I could give you would be actors who enjoy acting live on stage, compared to the sterile environment of working on a TV sitcom in front of a camera but nobody is there.
“Our players aren’t used to not performing in front of the fans and the emotional attachment and the noise, cheers and boos and everything else."

In contrast, Bruce's Newcastle have been one of the star turns of Project Restart, only really fluffing their lines against Man City whilst picking up points against West Ham & Aston Villa and thrashing Sheffield United and Bournemouth in style playing some of their best goal-scoring stuff of the season:

A similar performance and win at Watford to the display at Bournemouth and Steve Bruce will have amassed 46 points eclipsing Rafa Benitez's totals of the past two seasons & will rightly be able to claim as he has done that Newcastle have not stagnated. With a first FA Cup Final since 2005 included, The Magpies have had their best season since Alan Pardew's 5th place finished in 2011/2 and Europa QF in 2012/3.

"So this myth that we're just stagnating, and that we are just this horrible stale environment – it's not right.
'We're gradually improving, and the more you're in the Premier League, the more you improve, the better players you have – and that's our aim to keep improving. And add a little bit more quality to us."

Watford would certainly swop Newcastle's comfortable 43 points total so far for their own precarious 31 points haul just 3 points above the drop zone & they will be fighting for their lives to avoid relegation into The Championship. Lights, Camera, Action..