The Mail on Sunday

Winless Watford are feeling the chill as things get serious

- By Adam Shergold AT VICARAGE ROAD

THE wait goes on for Watford and it is becoming more uncomforta­ble with each passing week.

You have to go back to April 20, when they won 2-1 at relegation-bound Huddersfie­ld Town, to find the last time they experience­d the sweet taste of Premier League victory.

And for the Vicarage Road regulars it’s been an even longer purgatory. April 2 was the Hornets’ last home league success, a 4-1 win over Fulham.

Huddersfie­ld and Fulham both went down and now the dark clouds of relegation hang heavy over Watford.

Their winless state is a rarity in English football. You have to delve down to Corinthian-Casuals of the Isthmian League Premier Division — the seventh level of the pyramid — to find another team without a league victory this season.

The last time they went 10 games into a top-flight season without a win, at the beginning of the 2006-07 season, Watford ended up 20th and last, 10 points adrift of safety.

One small glimmer of light is that they won game 11, so Chelsea beware next weekend.

Here the Hornets were left grateful to 36-year-old keeper Ben Foster, who made crucial saves to deny Philip Billing, Diego Rico, Arnaut Danjuma and Ryan Fraser to leave Bournemout­h frustrated.

But they have still only scored five times in this season’s Premier League and that, really, tells you everything you need to know.

Still, manager Quique Sanchez Flores remains phlegmatic about their chances of survival.

‘I am confident and realistic too. I know they deserve to win in games before, but football is very capricious sometimes so you need to wait.

‘But at the moment we are creating something that I hope is solid for the future.

‘We had very clear attempts today so we don’t need to be worried about that. The moment we stop creating opportunit­ies, then we should be worried.’

In that regard, the hamstring injury Danny Welbeck suffered in last Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Tottenham couldn’t have come at a worse time, especially with talisman Troy Deeney still sidelined.

Sanchez Flores decided to leave recognised striker Andre Gray on the bench here and played Roberto Pereyra alongside Gerard Deulofeu up top. And, unlike their last home match against Sheffield United, when Watford played a very conservati­ve 5-3-2 and strangled their creativity, they raced out of the blocks.

Inside the first minute, Deulofeu’s angled drive skidded off the soggy surface and Bournemout­h keeper Aaron Ramsdale parried it out.

The ball couldn’t have fallen more perfectly to Abdoulaye Doucoure, only 12 yards out, but he got it all wrong and skied his effort into the stand.

Watford continued to pour forward and Deulofeu saw a wicked inswinging corner bounce back off the post.

But they quickly ran out of steam and were thankful to

Foster for keeping them level at half-time. The former England stopper turned Billing’s 20-yard effort around the post before making an even sharper save to deny Rico’s half-volley.

Those two saves required catlike reflexes but his third, on the stroke of half-time, was all down to bravery, getting down to block at the feet of Danjuma after Joshua King’s cross from the right.

And Foster’s final decisive act came in second-half stoppage time, punching out Fraser’s angled shot as Watford were left clinging on having controlled long spells.

Steve Cook also came inches away from snatching the points for Bournemout­h when a firsthalf header from Fraser’s corner cannoned back off the bar.

Watford threatened less often, but Bournemout­h keeper Ramsdale saved well from Deulofeu and Will Hughes after the break.

‘Given our expectatio­ns we’re disappoint­ed we haven’t won,’ said Bournemout­h manager Eddie Howe. ‘But it’s another clean sheet in a difficult game away from home.

‘Ultimately we weren’t ever in total control of the game, it was end-to-end at times.

‘We looked dangerous in moments and created a lot more this week.’

 ??  ?? POINT OF ORDER: Bournemout­h’s Steve Cook has words with Watford pair Roberto Pereyra and Christian Kabasele during the goalless draw
POINT OF ORDER: Bournemout­h’s Steve Cook has words with Watford pair Roberto Pereyra and Christian Kabasele during the goalless draw
 ??  ?? FOOT FAULT: Cook and Watford’s Andre Gray fight for possession
FOOT FAULT: Cook and Watford’s Andre Gray fight for possession

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