Nigel Pearson is expecting a win for Watford this evening in their FA Cup third round replay at Tranmere Rovers, despite conditions maybe benefiting their hosts.

The Hornets will be playing on a pitch recovering from heavy rainfall, with a Liverpool Women's game due to take place at Prenton Park called off over the weekend because the ground was waterlogged.

However, Pearson thinks expectation could weigh heavily on the shoulders of the home side and he is expecting Watford's quality to be the difference on the night.

"Based on the fact that they’re at home, they’re on a pitch which will be very heavy, I can see the argument," he said about Tranmere possibly being the favourites to win. 

"But having said that, they’ve also now got expectation on them. In the same way that we would have the expectation that we should win at our place, now maybe the expectation is turned around and if that’s the case, fine. All we do is go there and play the game and I would expect us to win it."

Pearson will once again rotate his side, as he did for the tie at Vicarage Road, with the Premier League very much his priority at the moment. 

Even though the Watford head coach led Middlesbrough out at Wembley in an FA Cup final during his playing days, he said he is all too aware that the FA Cup is no longer as important in English football as perhaps it once was, simply because of the financial implications of remaining in the top tier.

"Off the back of a very hectic Christmas period, there’s no way I was ever going to put the same side out and we went 3-0 up, we should have won the game, but we didn’t," he said.

"I think even with the changes that will be there tomorrow, I still expect a performance and if things go our way, we go through to the next round.

"I’m not a player anymore and I’m quite a bit older than when I played and yes the climate of what’s deemed to be important is very different to what it was in the 80s and 90s. You’ve also got to remember what the financial implications are of losing Premier League status. It comes down more to that and obviously European football takes precedent for the big clubs in the division because they’re looking to try and progress into European competition. Whether we think it’s unfortunate or something to lament, we’ve got to be realistic as well."