February 19, (THEWILL) – Watford won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon courtesy of Emmanuel Dennis’ late header, as the Nigerian forward continued to underline his importance to their win percentage.
The victory is Roy Hodgson’s first as manager of the Hornets, who weathered waves of pressure throughout the game to snare a crucial win in their fight for Premier League survival. It also prevented Hodgson from being included in the list of managers without a win in their first three EPL ties.
The hosts started brightly, giving promising indications early on, with Danny Ings in particular causing concern for Hodgson’s side, but it was the visitors who missed the finest chance inside the first 15 minutes.
Ismaila Sarr did an incredible job recovering possession and deftly breaking out of his defensive third before bursting upfield and releasing Dennis, who wonderfully sidestepped his way into the area and pushed Emi Martinez into a picture-perfect stop.
Villa’s urgency dwindled as the game went, but Steven Gerrard’s side should have scored just after the half-hour mark. Once again, Ings created a threat by racing past his man’s shoulder and receiving Emi Buendia’s pass in stride, only for the ball to bounce off the outside of the post instead of nestling into the bottom corner.
Replays, on the other hand, revealed that the Villa striker would have been flagged offside by a VAR review even if the ball had gone in.
Despite a commanding – albeit fruitless – start to the second half, it was Watford who found themselves with a gilt-edged opportunity on 55 minutes, with Gerrard’s side continuing to press for the game’s opening goal. Josh King’s brilliantly weighted through ball placed Moussa Sissoko through on goal, but he thrashed into the side netting at Martinez’s near post.
Anyone who hoped that would jolt the hosts into action was mistaken. Villa continued to struggle in their attempt to find penetrative moves at the other end of the pitch, despite playing some lovely football.
Around the 70th minute, Philippe Coutinho came close to scoring a worldie, dipping the ball onto the roof of the net from 25 yards out, but it was as near as the hosts got to putting the ball in the net, frustrating the home fans even more.
Then, Dennis struck with just over ten minutes remaining, punishing the team’s lack of potency. Sarr produced a delicious delivery for the goal, giving the Hornets’ leading scorer no choice but to thump a header past Martinez as he beat Ashley Young to the ball.
Watford, who were content to see the game out for a massive victory, were the only team that looked like getting the game’s second although Dennis limping off in the 86th minute will be worrying for Hodgson’s side.
However, Watford climbed up to 18th place as a result of their three points at Villa Park, and they are now only four points away from safety. They will play Crystal Palace next, hoping to add to their point total in their fight against relegation. Despite the loss, the Villa are still in 12th place and will travel to Brighton to try to get back on track.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
