Plymouth Argyle will hope one factor drives Andre Gray on v Watford FC | OneFootball

The striker would love nothing more than to grab a goal against his former side this weekend

Plymouth Argyle and Watford get the weekend’s Championship action underway on Friday night, with former Manchester United teammates Wayne Rooney and Tom Cleverley going head to head in the dugouts.

Argyle will be looking to continue a run of form at Home Park which has seen them unbeaten in their last five matches in front of their own fans, with 13 points picked up from the last 15 available.

For the Hornets, they will be trying to improve an away record which has seen six defeats from eight this season, with a 6-2 win at Sheffield Wednesday earlier in the month very much the anomaly in terms of games on the road.

With both sides creating and giving up chances on a regular basis this season, it feels like goals will be a given, and there will be one player hoping to get on the scoresheet more than most when the action gets underway, with Andre Gray eager to impress in front of his old employers.

Andre Gray fails to rediscover previous form after Watford move

Having worked his way up from the non-league circuit, Gray made the move to Vicarage Road in the summer of 2017, and played his part in a Watford side that competed in the Premier League for three seasons, scoring 14 goals in the process.

The frontman featured regularly alongside current Hornets boss Cleverley during his time in Hertfordshire, with the pair both coming off the bench as the club reached the FA Cup final in 2019, where they lost 6-0 to Manchester City.

But after joining for a club record fee of around £18.5 million, there were plenty among the club’s fanbase that were disappointed with the goalscoring return of the frontman, as he failed to hit double figures across any of his four seasons with the club.

Having scored for fun on his way up the football pyramid, Gray couldn’t recreate that sort of form in the top flight, which eventually contributed towards Watford’s relegation in 2020, in a season where he netted just twice in 23 appearances.

With that in mind, there is sure to be no love lost when his old employers come to Home Park this Friday night, where he will get the chance to get one over on his old side, and prove he still has what it takes to produce the goods at Championship level.

Andre Gray’s early Plymouth Argyle impact

After signing a short-term deal with the club in October that lasts until January, Gray has featured sporadically as he builds up his match sharpness, and has netted once in his four appearances to date.

Having come off the bench to mark his debut for the club in a 1-0 loss to Millwall, the striker played his part in Argyle’s dramatic comeback from 3-0 down to Preston North End to rescue a point, as he nodded in a Bali Mumba cross to get his side’s second of the afternoon that day.

Having taken that chance so well, the Greens got a glimpse of what the attacker can produce when the opportunities are created for him, and know that they will always have half a chance of grabbing a goal with the 33-year-old on the pitch.

A first start of the season came in the 1-0 win over Portsmouth in Argyle’s last outing in front of their own fans, and he could well be in Rooney’s plans to start this Friday, as the Pilgrims look to make the most of a Watford defence that regularly gives up golden opportunities, especially on their travels.

With 1.67 xG allowed per 90 away from Vicarage Road, Watford are among the top five clubs in the Championship for porousness while on their travels, and with a player keen to right a few wrongs like Gray will be, there could well be plenty of gaps to exploit during the 90 minutes at Home Park.

Given his reputation at Vicarage Road, there will be nothing sweeter for Gray than getting one over on his old teammate in the dugout this weekend, and Rooney will be well aware that he has a hungry striker with revenge on his mind waiting to be unleashed.