As West Ham delivered and approached safety after creating the consistency that David Moyes craves, the pressure was heavy on Watford. Nigel Pearson’s team fell apart on a hot night at London Stadium and will be scared of the last two games.
The relegation beckons if Watford poorly defends against Manchester City and Arsenal, despite remaining three points above Bournemouth and Aston Villa. Thanks to goals scored by Michail Antonio, Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice in the first half, it was too easy for West Ham to be six points ahead of the last three. Watford was angry. They froze in the opening phase and earned nothing despite the late rally.
Watford was a mess and showed nothing of the desire that could have been expected from one side deep in a relegation battle in the early stages. They were slow to loose balls, shy in midfield and a mess in the back. Forget trying to frustrate West Ham. They barely put a finger on West Ham’s dangerous attackers and it was no surprise that the game ran ahead of them within 10 minutes.
It was embarrassing for Watford, who apparently worked under the misunderstanding that they were driving in midfield. They allowed West Ham to take command from the start, and it was only six minutes on the clock when Antonio gave the latest example of his improved finish and collected a shot from Pablo Fornals before going for his seventh goal since goal deep and hard past Ben Foster shot resumption of the season.
You could have expected Watford to pay close attention to Antonio since no one in the division has achieved more than the striker since the suspension. However, that gave them too much recognition. Somehow, Watford was not up to the threat of a player scoring four goals to Norwich last weekend, and they were just as sleepy when Jarrod Bowen cut in from the right in the 10th minute and crossed to Soucek, who rose unchallenged, to go home.
If only someone had told Watford that Soucek has already established himself as one of the most dangerous players in the league. Still, there was no resistance from anyone in yellow. They just stood there, watching, and allowed the Czech midfielder to score his third goal since moving to West Ham in January.
Pearson was annoyed at the lack of organization on his gentle side. There were flickers from Watford that almost pulled one back when Lukasz Fabianski made a clever parade to refuse Ismaïla Sarr, but West Ham was responsible. The hosts were in no mood to loosen their grip and they continued to clear nine minutes before the break. Rice drove in before sending a malicious long-haul ride past Flatfoot Foster for his first goal of the season.
Watford was out early in the second half and it was Adrian Mariappa’s turn for Adam Masina, who paid for not overcoming Bowen’s threat to West Ham’s rights. Pearson had undoubtedly attacked his players in the locker room, and Watford stirred and threatened as Christian Kabasele went far.
West Ham crept back and encouraged Watford to investigate. After 49 minutes, Abdoulaye Doucouré passed Ben Johnson, a 20-year-old right-back who started for the first time since his debut in February 2019, before defeating Angelo Ogbonna. The midfielder’s shot came back from the post and fell on Troy Deeney, who was firmly on target.
Watford’s players roared and made themselves like a Sunday League team shaking off a hangover. West Ham, who was retreating, was nervous. They made mistakes and sang cheap possessions, which gave Watford hope. Chances were good and West Ham needed central defenders Issa Diop and Ogbonna to remove many inviting crosses.
But West Ham, led by Mark Noble at his 500th appearance for the club, stabilized. There was no way back for Watford.
.
