Watford to stay up in the Championship has shortened to 1/3 with Paddy Power, in from 1/2, as three bookmakers cut their odds. Full details here.
The odds on Watford to stay up in the Championship have been cut from 1/2 to 1/3 with Paddy Power, and after a week that began in a mess, the Hornets have given the bookmakers a reason to believe.
Watford have shortened to a best price of 1/3 with Paddy Power for Watford to stay up in the Championship, in from 1/2, with three bookmakers cutting their odds.
Stephy Mavididi's deflected strike, 38 seconds into the second half, settled a 1-0 home win over Lincoln City on 3 November 2026.
The clean sheet against Lincoln was only Watford's second since March 2026.
The result moved Watford four points clear of the Championship relegation zone.
Watford's week started about as badly as it could. On Saturday they let a two-goal half-time lead slip away at Norwich and lost 3-2, the kind of collapse that has a side near the bottom looking over its shoulder. Alessio Dionisi did not sit on his hands. He made four changes for the visit of Lincoln City, bringing in Omar Traoré, Marc Bola, Othmane Maamma and Mavididi, and it was the on-loan winger who decided it with a scruffy, deflected effort straight after the restart. Not pretty, but nobody at Vicarage Road was asking for pretty.
What really moved the market was how Watford protected the lead. Dionisi started with a back four and switched to a back five late on to shut the game down, and this time the home side stayed stubborn and kept a clean sheet. That is the key strength here: a team that had thrown away a winning position days earlier showed it could see one out. It also pushed them four points clear of the drop zone, and three bookmakers have since cut their prices on the Hornets.
Championship To Stay Up odds
Best odds 1/3 with Paddy Power for Watford to stay up in the Championship, and with no other named bookmaker price on the board right now, there is no worst price to set against it. That is a shorter price than the market offered before the Lincoln result.
Last updated: 4 November 2026, 22:13 UK time
Odds below are live and may have changed since publishing this article.
What are the odds on Watford to stay up in the Championship?
Norwich, QPR and Sheffield Utd are joint favourites in this market at a best price of 1/200 with Paddy Power, with Portsmouth the next shortest behind that front three. Watford sit thirteenth-shortest at 1/3 with Paddy Power, which tells you the bookmakers still have them in the scrap, just no longer in the thick of it. Going into the Lincoln game they were 21st in the table and only just above the relegation zone, so the gap has grown, but nobody should mistake it for a cushion yet.
Norwich – Joint favourites at 1/200 with Paddy Power, and the side that came from two goals down to beat Watford 3-2.
QPR – Joint favourites at 1/200 with Paddy Power, priced well clear of any relegation worry.
Sheffield Utd – Joint favourites at 1/200 with Paddy Power, and Watford's hosts on 21 November.
Watford – Thirteenth-shortest at 1/3 with Paddy Power, in from 1/2 after the Lincoln City win.
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Where do the odds on Watford to stay up in the Championship go next?
The next test comes quickly. Middlesbrough visit Vicarage Road on 7 November having put three past Charlton Athletic without reply in late October, so Watford's newfound ability to see out a lead will be tested properly. After that comes a trip to Sheffield Utd on 21 November, one of the joint favourites in this market. Our view is simple: if Dionisi's side keep the same discipline that closed out Lincoln and Mavididi keeps giving them a cutting edge, Watford's price has room to come in again. Another blown lead like the one at Norwich, though, and that 1/3 will start to look short.
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