The Hornets put an end to their poor month of December as they defeated West Ham by two goals to nil at the London Stadium to post back to back wins for the first time since October.
“I think we had a good performance today. We knew playing against West Ham in this good moment for them, it would be demanding and it was like we thought,” said manager, Javi Gracia after their win on Saturday. It was a demanding game that could have been decided by either team yet Watford took the advantage on 27 minutes after Fabian Balbeuna conceded a penalty after catching Roberto Pereyra as he ran into the penalty box.
Up stepped captain, Troy Deeney, as he sent Lukasz Fabianski the opposite direction, hammering home the penalty to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead. Before taking the penalty, Fabianski had stopped Deeney’s last three attempts, however, that was not to be the case.
On the restart, the Hammers had their best chance of the first half. Felipe Anderson sent a long ball in from the right flank which found the head of Michail Antonio, who headed it across to find Hernandez whose volleyed effort was well saved by a diving Foster in the Watford goal.
After the break, West Ham continued to look the more dangerous on the attack, but the stalwart defense of Watford continued to repel the onslaught. Foster faced 18 shots and was forced to make seven saves.
Hernandez would have another big chance go begging in the 73rd minute as Antonio played a great ball into the top of the 18-yard box, as Hernandez turned, but fired just wide of the post.
West Ham continued to see big chances missed, as Grady Diangana put a ball on the head of Robert Snodgrass, firing a stronger head that was parried away by Foster, out to Antonio and an open net, as he set it off the crossbar.
Watford sealed the victory in the 87th minute though as Pereyra collected Jose Holebas’ long ball in, played a one-two with Gerard Deulofeu and slotted the ball past Fabianski, giving the Hornets all three points.
Hornets strong defensive set up
Between this season and last, one big difference defensively has worked out in favor of Javi Gracia, as defenders have been healthy and on the pitch, as opposed to in the training room, injured. Many of the problems the Hornets faced last year weren’t the cause of Marco Silva, but the fact the manager was limited in healthy defenders in front of Heurelho Gomes.
While Ben Foster looks class between the posts, providing experience and leadership for the Hornets, Gracia has been able to slot defenders into the starting XI and lose very little when it comes to quality players who know their job.
It’s been big to have a defensive pairing in the middle consisting of Craig Cathcart and Christian Kabasele, as the Belgian has come into his own this season. The pair have been one of the better center pairings in the Premier League this season and the fixture at West Ham highlighted this.
While an injury to Daryl Janmaat could have potentially caused problems for Gracia, he slotted in Kiko Femenia and Marc Navarro. Jose Holebas still has a penchant for yellow cards, already being suspended once this season, but new boy, Adam Masina has been strong down the left flank.
Bad luck for the Hammers
Over 90 minutes, West Ham looked the more dangerous of the teams. Had it not been for some bad luck, the outcome of his game could have been different. The Hornets halted the best attack over the last five games and a team who managed to net 11 times in five games before the fixture against Watford were halted.
The Hammers are missing their main forward, Marko Arnautovic due to a hamstring injury, as well as their left midfielder, Andriy Yarmolenko due to an Achilles problem. That said, West Ham have relied on the attacking play of Felipe Anderson, Robert Snodgrass, as well as Javier Hernandez but the trio did not manage to get going against the Hornets.
West Ham still have a favorable run of fixtures and the duo of Anderson and Snodgrass should continue to play a major role in the goal output. Their 25 goals is third best outside the top six teams and should be able to post some strong attacking returns over the festive period.
December slide averted
This was a big win for Watford, as they posted just three points over the month of December, a period of time which saw their fortunes take a turn for the worse. This slide did in fact start during November where the Hornets just managed a single point.
Watford continued to play strong fundamental football, losing two games by a single goal, drawing two games that could have been won and had strong showings against Liverpool and Manchester City, both losses.
Throughout this period Javi Gracia remained positive in his approach and the team responded putting together some good performances on the pitch. It was only a matter of time before the results turned and they were putting three points on the board again. Watford, with the win, are now up to 7th in the league table on 27 points.
