Watford 0 – 3 Burnley
Burnley strike partners Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes both scored second-half goals to secure three points at Vicarage Road and leave Watford at the bottom of the table.
In torrential rain, the Clarets soaked up all the pressure the Hornets had to offer before pouncing early in the second half when Wood hooked home a loose ball from a corner.
Barnes scored from the penalty spot with eight minutes left after VAR deemed Jose Holebas had fouled the Burnley forward.
James Tarkowski put the gloss on Burnley’s victory late on, forcing home a rebound after his first effort had been well saved by Ben Foster.
Watford is yet to win at home in the Premier League this season and their lack of confidence in front of goal was summed up by another toothless display.
Sean Dyche’s team had been equally poor on the road and showed limited ambition to contain their hosts for most of the 90 minutes.
However, in Wood and Barnes, they have strikers on top form to make the difference in tight games, and this win pushes them up to sixth in a congested Premier League table.
Meanwhile, Watford is mired in relegation trouble after 11 successive home games without a win for the first time in their history.
Burnley had not won away from Turf Moor this season, and Sean Dyche’s tactics in the first half seemed designed to stop their hosts from building any momentum.
Tarkowski and Ben Mee both ended up in referee Paul Tierney’s book and their rugged defending kept the lively Gerard Deulofeu in check.
In the second half, Wood’s clever finish with their first real shot on target gave them a platform they never looked like conceding.
Substitute Jay Rodriguez was unfortunate to see an opportunistic shot come back off the crossbar, but in the ensuing move Barnes was fouled by Holebas and the Burnley striker made no mistake from the penalty spot.
A two-goal lead was comfortable, but Tarkowski twisted the knife with his first goal since last December as the clock edged towards injury time.
Burnley already has the division’s fourth-best home record and, if they are addressing their away form, they may stick around the top six for a while longer.
Quique Sanchez Flores returned to manage Watford in September with a brief to arrest the malaise that had set in under his predecessor Javi Gracia.
Since the 8-0 drubbing at Manchester City two months ago, they appeared to have tightened up at the back with just five goals conceded in their last six games.
However, shorn of the suspended Christian Kabasele, and with Craig Dawson’s head injury leading him to be substituted in the first half, their defence fell apart against Burnley.
The result might have been different had they found a cutting edge in a dominant first-half display.
Gerard Deulofeu flickered with menace, but his mercurial approach play failed to find an end product, and his day was summed up by a blistering shot in the final seconds that thundered against Nick Pope’s crossbar and bounced away.
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Source – BBC
