Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has warned Watford‘s mascot to not mock Wilfried Zaha over diving allegations ahead of their game today.
‘Harry the Hornet’ previously taunted the striker over diving accusations by diving onto the Vicarage Road pitch when the two sides met in December 2016, after Zaha was criticised for his theatrics on the pitch.
Hodgson described Harry’s antics as disgraceful, provocative and said they should be stopped.
“If you’re asking me whether Harry the Hornet, who I presume is the mascot, should dive in that way, I think it’s disgraceful,” the Palace manager told the Guardian.
“Because that’s not what football matches are about. If it’s provoking the crowd into looking for something that’s not there, it should be stopped.
“Wilf Zaha does not dive for penalties. He gets knocked over sometimes – sometimes he gets knocked over or unbalanced without it being a penalty or a foul – because he runs at such speed and has such agility with the ball. But he certainly doesn’t dive.
“But of course teams try to take every advantage they can. I would be very disappointed if the Palace mascot was doing something like that to provoke the crowd against an opponent. And if I found out about it, I would stop it.”
The Eagles have not been defeated by Watford in their last four Premier League games, however, the Hornets haven’t lost a home game to the south Londoners since September 2015.
If Zaha scores today then Palace have a good chance of recording a win at Vicarage Road, as the Eagles have only lost two of the 22 Premier League games in which the Ivory Coast international has scored for them.
Watford have taken maximum points from their opening two games, while Palace have one win and one defeat.
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