The 2021–22 season was the 123rd season in existence of Watford Football Club and their first season back in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

following their immediate return with promotion from the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

in the previous season. Watford also competed in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

and

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. This season was the first, since 2009–10 without the club's record

goalscorer

Troy Deeney Troy Matthew Deeney (born 29 June 1988) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. He was most recently player-manager of Forest Green Rovers F.C., Forest Green Rov ...

who joined

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

after his contract expired.

Managerial changes

On 3 October, the ''Hornets'' sacked head coach

Xisco Xisco is the nickname of people named ''Francisco''. Notable people with the nickname include: *Xisco (footballer, born 1980), Spanish footballer *Xisco (footballer, born 1986), Spanish footballer *Xisco Nadal Francisco Sebastián Nadal Martor ...

. A day later,

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Serie A club AS Roma, Roma but will leave on 30 June 2025, followin ...

was appointed the club's new Head Coach, on a two-year contract. Ranieri was sacked on 24 January and was replaced the following day by

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstad in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to t ...

. Watford would go on to record 2 wins and remain winless in Hodgson’s tenure and be relegated in May 2022 following a 1-0 defeat to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

Players

Current squad

:''As of 22 May 2022.''

Transfers

Transfers in

Transfers out

Loans in

Loans out

Pre-season and friendlies

Watford announced they would play

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, and

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

as part of their pre-season schedule.

Competitions

Premier League

League table

Results summary

Results by matchday

Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 16 June 2021.

FA Cup

Watford were drawn away to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

in the third round.

EFL Cup

Watford entered the competition in the second round and were drawn at home to

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

in the third round.

Statistics

Appearances

Goalscorers

''The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.''

Clean sheets

''The list is sorted by shirt number when total clean sheets are equal.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 Watford F.C. Season Watford F.C. seasons

Watford F.C. Watford Football Club is a professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The team played at several grounds in their early history, includ ...