Watford fight back to down Tottenham and maintain dream start to the season
Watford 2-1 Tottenham: Spurs took the lead courtesy of a Abdoulaye Doucoure own-goal but they soon found themselves on the back foot as the Hornets found the net twice across seven minutes
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Your support makes all the difference.Who had Watford - no star players, no star manager, few notable summer signings – as the early-season pace-setters? After the first short section of Premier League season concluded this afternoon, Watford are third, or, as their announcer generously described it as the players celebrated on the pitch, “joint top”. Only a curmudgeon would point out the difference.
Only Chelsea and Liverpool can match Watford’s record of winning all four Premier League games so far, and while they are ahead of Javi Gracia’s side on goal difference, they are not ahead by much. And of Watford’s four wins so far, this emphatic turning-over of Tottenham Hotspur at Vicarage Road, the best win of the Gracia era, was by far the most pleasing of the lot.
Because Watford were facing a Spurs side who had also won their first three games of the season, including a 3-0 win at Manchester United on Monday night that felt like it could be transformative.
Because Watford were the better side here today, conceding one freak own goal early in the second half but defending selflessly, out-running the fittest team in the league and eventually creating enough openings to deserve their win.
Because Watford were still 1-0 down with 20 minutes left, but continued to push just as hard, deservedly taking the points from Troy Deeney and Craig Cathcart headers from two perfect Jose Holebas set pieces.
Pochettino knew how dangerous Watford would be, even though in the end he could not stop it. That is why he changed his team from Monday night, going back to a back three, with Davinson Sanchez coming in for Eric Dier, one of three Tottenham changes from Monday.
The Spurs defence eventually buckled, but before then this was a story of Tottenham's inability to turn possession into goals at the other end of the pitch. Pochettino has a new attacking system with two strikers - Lucas Moura partnering Harry Kane up front – with Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen just behind. Today it did not work.
But Spurs’ only impressive player in a frustrating day was Lucas, their Old Trafford match-winner and their biggest difference-maker from last season. Lucas may have arrived from PSG with a reputation as a showy winger but he today he had a strikingly selfless role in this Spurs side: running in behind, chasing into the channels, trying to commit defenders just to open up space for his colleagues.
Not much came off for Lucas in the first half – he skewed a difficult volley wide from the edge of the box – but then he was still more dangerous than his anonymous team-mates. Spurs were up against a defensively excellent Watford side, who never gave them the room on the ball they need to play. Kane struggled to get into the game and Eriksen had to go deeper and deeper and get on the ball.
When Spurs finally broke through, seven minutes after the restart, it was Lucas’ vigour – and plenty of luck – that got them the lead. Christian Kabasele failed to properly clear Eriksen’s little clipped pass and it broke to Lucas. He scurried down the right, pulled a hopeful cross back, and watched in glee as the ball hit Abdoulaye Doucoure and flew past Ben Foster and in. Spurs were delighted with their luck, but it was not a goal they truly deserved.
Sometimes goals like this change games, but here Spurs could not build on their good fortune and score that crucial second. Watford had been steadily growing into the game, getting into good positions, and winning set pieces. When Troy Deeney put Sanchez on the floor and whipped in a cross which Alderweireld headed onto his own crossbar, it was a warning that they needed a better response to Watford’s pushy physicality. But they did not have one.
So it was no real surprise when Watford did score, five minutes after Alderweireld nearly equalised by himself. When Dembele had to pull down Will Hughes 20 yards from goal, it was the desperate action of a tired man who had been worn out by a livelier opponent. Watford had put Spurs under pressure and then they made the most of it, Holebas’ free-kick headed in at the near post by Deeney.
All the momentum and energy were with Watford now, whose consistent hard work had finally been rewarded. And as they continued to push Spurs, they found that they had more in reserve to take the game. Tottenham should have known about Holebas’ left-footed delivery but when he took a corner, seven minutes after the equaliser, they could not stop it. The ball dipped over Alderweireld’s near-post leap and there was Craig Cathcart, barging his way in front of Dembele at the near post to win the game.
Spurs pushed for their own equaliser, Kane skimming a header from a Trippier cross just over the bar, but it was never quite enough. They had been caught off-guard and hit twice hard by Watford, and they did not have enough to get equal. Not against the most surprisingly punchy team in this year’s Premier League.
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