Getty Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes.
Manchester United will host Watford at Old Trafford on Saturday in the third round of the FA Cup.
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In the United States, the match (3 p.m. ET) won’t be on TV anywhere, but anyone in the US can watch Manchester United vs Watford live on ESPN+ right here:
ESPN+ has live coverage of every FA Cup match in 20-21, as well as Carabao Cup, EFL, Bundesliga, Serie A, DFL Supercup, Bundesliga 2, MLS and other live sports. It also includes every 30-for-30 documentary and additional original content (both video and written) all for $5.99 per month.
Or, if you also want Disney+ and Hulu, you can get all three for $12.99 per month, which works out to about 31 percent savings:
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Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch Manchester United vs Watford live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Manchester United vs Watford Preview
Though United failed to advance to the Champions League knockout phase — settling instead for a transfer to the Europa League — they’ve enjoyed domestic success in 2020-21.
Through 16 matches, United sit in second on the Premier League table with 33 points; they trail Liverpool on goal differential and have a match in hand.
The Red Devils blanked Luton Town, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Everton en route to the EFL Cup semi-finals before succumbing to Manchester City 2-0 on Wednesday. They surrendered tallies in the 50th and 83rd minutes.
“We wanted to go to a final. We wanted the final to look forward to and that would have given us an extra boost,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said, according to the club’s official website. “But it is not happening and then you have to dust it off and use the night to get the disappointment away. Because, on Saturday, FA Cup [against Watford], and then we have big league games against Burnley and Liverpool and, within a month, suddenly the Europa League is here again. There are loads of things to play for.”
Wednesday’s defeat marked United’s fourth consecutive semi-final exit; they left last year’s FA Cup, EFL Cup, and Europa League just shy of the tournaments’ finals.
“At the moment, they are probably the best team in England and we just didn’t have enough,” Solskjaer said, per the club’s website. “When you lose a semi-final, when you lose against an opponent, you think they deserve it. But we are getting closer. This is a much better version of Man United compared to a year ago in those semis. That’s positive but it is not enough.”
Watford, who last season played themselves into relegation to the EFL Championship, presently sit in sixth on the second-tier league’s table, with 37 points through 22 matches.
They’ve dropped two out of their last three, all in Championship play, sandwiching road defeats to Huddersfield Town (2-0) and Swansea City (2-1) around a home victory over Norwich City (1-0).
The tilts with Norwich and Swansea were the squad’s first under manager Xisco Muñoz, who took the reins on Dec. 21, two days after the sacking of Vladimir Ivić.
“The most important thing is we go there and fight like animals and enjoy the situation,” Muñoz said this week, according to the club’s official website.
“I know it will be difficult, because Manchester United is a perfect team, but we need to give our best and try very hard, because the most important thing is that our fans enjoy watching our team.”