Watford 2 Sunderland 2: Highlights after Jewison Bennette goal earns Cats a point at Vicarage Road

So Simms isn’t even named in the squad after injuring his toe against Reading on Wednesday.

Embleton takes the striker’s place, like he did at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, so it looks like Pritchard will play as a false nine again.

Watford have made five changes following their 2-0 defeat at Blackburn on Tuesday, while influential forward Sarr misses out.

William Troost-Ekong, Kortney Hause, Yaser Asprilla, Hassane Kamara and Keinan Davis come into the starting XI.

Ellis Simms was out on the pitch with the rest of the Sunderland squad.

Here are our predicted line-ups for today’s match:

Predicted Watford XI: Bachmann; Cathcart, Sierralta, Hause; Gaspar, Kayembe, Choudhury, Kamara; Davis, Pedro, Sarr

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson; Gooch, O’Nien, Batth, Alese; Evans, Neil, Embleton; Roberts, Pritchard, Clarke

Here’s what Watford boss Rob Edwards had to say about Sunderland ahead of today’s match:

“I was impressed with them in midweek. Richie (Richie Kyle, assistant head coach) went to the game, it was on TV as well and we watched that back. They performed really well and will be riding a wave of confidence at the moment. They’ve made a good start.

“They’ve had a bit of change and have handled that change really well. A really experienced manager has come in, and Tony has been able to keep things going and build on the confidence they already had.

“He’s a very experienced and very good manager and coach, he’s had a fantastic career with a lot of success. I remember playing against his West Brom team when I was at Wolves. It’s brilliant to put your wits against these guys.”

After Simms was forced off against Reading on Wednesday, Mowbray turned to Alex Pritchard to play as a false nine.

“I put Alex there basically because of his footballing intelligence,” said the Sunderland boss in yesterday’s press conference.

“His footballing knowledge, his awareness of what his responsibilities would be in a different position. We have a lot of players who could do the role but I just felt that Alex has that savvy.

“Some players have a lot of talent but they don’t necessarily think about space or position, they just get the ball and do what they do.

“Alex understands football, potentially someone who could be a coach somewhere down the line I think.

“I knew he’d have the intelligence to occupy the position and defenders, to get into spaces where defenders won’t want to go so he can link with the other players.”

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Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Blackburn means Rob Edwards side have won just one of their last five league games.

They are still just a point behind Sunderland, though, as they aim to bounce back following last season’s relegation from the Premier League.

The Hornets are assessing the fitness of defender Kortney Hause and influential playmaker Ismaila Sarr, who came off in the first half against Blackburn, ahead of their meeting with Sunderland.

Captain Tom Cleverley has also been ruled out of the contest.

To find out more, we caught up with Andrew French from the Watford Observer on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen to the full episode here.