By Daily sports on January 21, 2021

Nigeria international William Troost-Ekong is hoping Watford embark on a run of positive results with victory over John Obi Mikel’s Stoke City on Friday.

The Hornets followed up on Saturday’s 2-0 defeat of Huddersfield Town with another triumph over Barnsley on Tuesday evening.

A first-half penalty from captain Troy Deeney in the 27th minute proved the difference as Xisco Munoz’s men defeated Valerien Ismael’s side to move to third in the English Championship log after garnering 43 points from 24 games.

They take on the Potters in their next outing and victory against Michael O'Neill’s men at the Bet365 Stadium will see them move into the top two.

The centre back who featured for 82 minutes before his substitution for Craig Cathcart – is hoping his team can secure maximum points against the team that boasts compatriot Obi Mikel.

“I’ve just been in the changing room and everyone is very happy, but it won’t mean a lot unless we can get something again on Friday,” Troost-Ekong told Hive Live.

“We need to close the week well and we’ve said we need to try and get on a run, so playing Stoke away is going to be a great opportunity for us.

“We’ve done the basics and put the foundation in place to have a good week and get a good run going.”

Troost-Ekong had attributed Watford’s 1-0 win over Barnsley to better preparation.

“We were better prepared this time,” he continued.

“We had to try and get revenge after what happened when we played them away.

“They played real Championship football, it was a real battle tonight, but we did well to try and get the ball onto the ground and play as much as possible.

“We knew this was going to be a massive week, we wanted to get as many points as we can to attack the top again and we did what we needed to do in the last two games at home.”

Born and raised in Haarlem, Netherlands, the 27-year-old started his professional career in the Dutch elite division with Groningen and Dordrecht before heading to Gent and Haugesund.

The Super Eagles centre-back teamed up with Watford in September 2020 from Serie A club Udinese on a five-year deal.

In the 2020-21 campaign, he has featured in 14 league games with one goal [against Coventry City] to his credit. (Goal)

•PHOTO: William Troost-Ekong

Source Daily sports

Posted January 21, 2021

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