Doucoure nips in to hand Watford point

IN the week where the Video Assistant Referee made its cup football debut in England, the Premier League may now be wishing they had followed suit.

Trailing 2-1 in the closing stages to Southampton after Andre Gray had scored to half the deficit to a James Ward-Prowse double, Troy Deeney headed the ball across goal towards the onrushing Abdoulaye Doucoure.

One of Watford’s standout players this season, Doucoure (above) stared down Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy before sticking out his right hand and knocking the ball past the stopper and into the empty net to seal a 2-2 draw.

Of the incident, Deeney remained oblivious, saying: ‘I played the header, so I didn’t see that. It’s one of them. They’ll feel like it’s a loss.

‘(If) VAR comes in, we probably wouldn’t get that but today we got it. It’s the luck of the draw.’

Watford manager Marco Silva, too, tried to avoid being drawn on Doucoure’s leveller.

He added: ‘I don’t need to talk about the goal. Something can happen and this season we’ve had decisions go against us.

‘I understand Southampton are unhappy just as I was not on several occasions when the mistake is against us. It can happen.’

West Brom moved off bottom spot with a 2-0 victory over Brighton to end a 20-game winless run in the top flight.

Jonny Evans put the Baggies ahead in the fourth minute, heading home from a corner, before full-back Craig Dawson found the net in similar fashion.

Joselu’s goal four minutes after coming on from the bench scrambled a point for Newcastle at home to Swansea, who slip to bottom of the table.

The Swans were denied a first-half penalty after Mohamed Diame looked to have handled the ball but went in front on the hour mark through Jordan Ayew.

Their lead lasted just eight minutes, though, as Joselu fired home to snatch a point with a 1-1 draw.

Crystal Palace’s revival continued as Bakary Sako netted the only goal of the game to secure a 1-0 victory over seventhplaced Burnley.