Rampant Hornets send the Robins to the rack

An inspired Ismaila Sarr, who was subject to multiple interests from different Premier League Clubs in the January transfer window, showed his true worth by becoming a constant menace for the Bristol City defence. Setting up Ken Sema twice, before calmly dispatching away the fourth goal of the evening, it became very clear that the Senegalese will have to be an instrumental figure if Watford are to make it back into the Premier League.

 

Coming into this fixture, no team had won more home games in the Championship than Watford, while Bristol City’s treacherous away form had seen them lose their previous six games on the road.

 

As for Bristol City, costly defensive errors didn’t help their cause as they were almost always brutally punished. While Robins defender Moore poked man of the match Sema’s cutback into his own net after just two minutes, Zak Vyner’s loose back pass was pounced by captain Tom Cleverley, who assisted Sarr for Watford’s second.

 

Defensive errors aside, the Robins were still unfortunate to concede the third after Hughes’ shot cruelly looped over Robins keeper Daniel Bentley, almost certainly indicating that today was going to be Watford’s day.

 

If Watford had outclassed their opponents in the first half, the players continued to shine in the second half. Adding in two more after the break, this became Watford’s biggest win in terms of margin since their 1982 league game against Sunderland which ended 8-0.

 

Win leaves Watford in a solid 4th position, six-points behind second-placed Brentford. As for Bristol City, the loss only heaps further pressure on manager Dean Holden whose side began the campaign with promotion aspirations, but now find themselves in the middle of nowhere in 12th, having lost four successive league games.

 

In the post-match reaction, Watford manager Xisco Munoz called for the squad to stay humble after their impressive performance. He further emphasised on the importance of starting early from the blocks and scoring goals early on. The Spanish highlighted that through the early goals, the tempo was set for the rest of the game.

 

Dean Holden on the other hand, simply admitted that his team had been outclassed today and highlighted how strong the Hornets looked in terms of their structure and system. Going ahead, the Englishman highlighted the importance of working on areas where he felt his squad had regular lapses of concentration.

 

Now only time will tell, if Dean Holden is given the time to changed Bristol City’s fortune as todays performance must have certainly added further pressure and doubt on his job guarantee. As for the Hornets, they will hope this form is a start to a run which takes them ever so closer to the automatic promotion places.

 

With six more points to play for in the upcoming week, the unpredictable Championship table could paint a completely different picture come end of next week. Stay tuned to TO2D to keep up to date with the latest news and scores from the Championship.

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MOTM - Ismaila Sarr. Breath taking pace and accurate deliveries into the box made Ismaila Sarr, a clear winner in the Man of the Match race. An integral member of the squad, his performances shall remain the key if Watford want to keep up with fellow competitors Norwich City, Swansea City and Brentford in the race for the automatic promotion spots.