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Leicester City 2-0 Watford: Three talking points from the King Power

William Pearson
William Pearson

Leicester City moved up to seventh in the Premier League table as goals in either half fr♔om Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez earnt a comfortable win over struggling Watford on Saturday afternoon.

It was a f🉐ar from fluid encounter between two sides looking to turn around some below par recent form,🌜 but it was the hosts who went closest early on when Vardy’s low drive was parried away by incoming goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis.

Troy Deeney found the net for Watford only to see it chalked off for offside before Vardy did open🎃 the scoring, being hauled down by Molla Wague’s late challenge before coolly sending Ka🃏rnezis the wrong way with the spot-kick.

Watford made some attacking substitutions after the break as they went in search of an equaliser and Andre Gray went closest when his effort was pushed aside, bu♋t by committing men into the attack they were always vulnerable to the counter and Mahrez tucked hಞome to secure all the points.

The result sees the Foxes earn just their second win in seven league matches, lifting them above Burnley into seventh, whilst Watford remain in 10th with jus🌞t the solitꦬary win in their past 11 games.

Defeat proves the final straw as Silva sacked

What a difference a few months can make.

At the end of September, Watford were withiꦬn touching distance of the Champions League spots af🥂ter a blistering start to the season, losing just one out of eight matches.

There were genuine talks that the Hornets could be the team to try a♎nd muscle their way into the top six such was the way th♔ey ground out results and it was testament to some expansive football.

But a wretched run of form since a 3-0 away win at Newcastle in late November has ended 🐼those lofty ambitions and sent Watford – and boss Marco Silva – crashing back down to e🐬arth with an unwanted reality check, and defeat at Leicester means it’s now just the solitary win in 11 league outings.

It also signalled the end of Sil🧔va’s time in charge after just a matter of months, with the Club on Sunday morning announcing that they have parted company with the Portuguese tactician.

It may not come as a surprise considering their recent run of form but it’s a decision that has a feeling of haste about it, as Silva’s rejuvenation of Watford at the start of the season was unlike anyt🧸hing seen at Vicarage Road for a number of years.

Yet ultimately football is a results dri🍨ven business and this – allied with an underlying messag🅠e about Everton’s approach before Christmas – has resulted in his swift dismissal.

As for Watford’s demise, it’s hardღ to pinpoint an area as to why this has happened.

Over the cou🏅rse of these🐻 games they’ve conceded 23 times and only scored 11 – the same amount they managed in their opening seven games of the year – and there’s evidently glaring problems at both ends of the pitch.

Constant injuries to first-team players has hampered any hopes of progress but there’s still more than enough quality in the Watford squad, and whoever the new man in is tꦰhey will need to find a way to get them firing again.

Record-signing Gray draws blank again

It’s perhaps not a coincidence that Watford’s decline in form has come at the same time as a dry patch from young Braziꦉlian Richarlison, who had proven to be a revelation in the Premier League ✃since his summer move.

The 20-year-old has failed to find the net since the 2-0 win over West Ham in mid-Novemb💦er – 12💎 matches ago – and in the same period of time he’s only managed to create nine chances for his side.

For a point of comparison, he managed to score five goals and craft 14 opportunities in his opening 12 gamꦕes when Watford were firing on all fronts. This will no doubt worry whoever Silva’s successor is as, whenever Richarlison isn’t impacting matches, it seems that there’s no-one else who will pick up the goal-scori🌌ng burden.

And one of the biggest disappointments of the season to 🌠date for the Hornets has been the patchy form of club-record signing Andre Gray.

At £18.5million therܫe was a lot of hope and expectation on the shoulders of the former Burnley man but, with just four goals from 23 outings, he hasn’t quite had the desired impact since arriving at Vicarage Road.

It was a match where clear chances🥃 were few and far between but Watford’s best chance of an equaliser fell to Gray in the second-half, where his shot from inside the area was pushed away by Kasper Schmeichel. It was ♈a smart stop but, on another day and with an in-form striker, it should have been buried and Gray will be kicking himself over it.

The players will know that they need to just grind out a result and their form could turn around again, and they will hope to get a second🐎 wind under a new manager and return to winning ways when they visit relegation-threatened Stoke City in a forܫtnight’s time.

Vardy and Mahrez run Watford ragged

Leicester City supporters can be forgiven for thinking that it’s the 🍌2015-16 Premier League season once again as Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez ran the show to earn a convincing win over Watford.

The duo have both endured some testing spells since the euphoric title-winning year but under Claude Puel they seem to be thriving, and the way♏ they ran the show on Saturday was merely indicative of the confidence that is flowing through their veins again.

Watford will no doubt be sick of the sight of Mahrez after he notched his fifth goal in his last five appearances against the Hornets, rounding things off in injury-time wit🗹h a composed finish.

There seems to be far less speculation over the Algerian’s future in this January trans𒁃fer window compared to last year and it’s arguably this that allows him to focus on his football and nothing else.

And he was well accompanied by Vardy on the day, who caused constant problems for an under-strength Watford back-line. Their centre-back pairing of Molla W🐻ague – who brought him down for the penalty – and Christian Kabasele just couldn’t contain his pace nor keep track of his late runs.

If both Vardy and Mahrez can sustain this sort of form long into the season then it’s anyone’s guess as to where Leicester m🌳ay finish – and who knows, seventh might be a more than realistic targe♛t.