Claudio Ranieri’s hopes of restoring the champions’ solidity on the road? Gone in 33 seconds here. That was how long it took Étienne Capoue to open the scoring for Watford, who quickly increased their lead thanks to a lovely goal by Roberto Pereyra. Riyad Mahrez converted a penalty for Leicester but the champions could not avert a fifth defeat from six Premier League away matches this season.
Add that to the fact that they lost their year-long unbeaten home league record in their last match at the King Power and Leicester’s title defence is beginning to bear an uncomfortable resemblance to a struggle against relegation. After 12 matches they are two points above the bottom three.
Leicester will confirm progression to the knockout stages of the Champions League if the beat Club Brugge on Tuesday but their domestic troubles recall a different kind of history: Manchester City’s class of 1938 are the only English champions to have been relegated the year after winning the title.
Leicester kicked off here as if intending to ease themselves into the game. That was a liberty Watford were not willing to give them. The hosts seized possession almost immediately and Pereyra embarked on a wriggly run down the left before clipping in a dangerous cross.
Troy Deeney helped it on with a canny header and Capoue arrived to volley it into the net from 16 yards. It was a severe rebuke to the dozing visitors and the latest proof of Capoue’s increased deadliness from midfield: the Frenchman did not score at all last season but this was his fifth goal of this campaign.
Watford had been trounced 6-1 by Liverpool in their last outing before the international break and their manager, Walter Mazzarri, had ordered his players to channel their anger at that result into their performance here.
They seemed intent on doing just that, which was bad news for any Leicester player hoping the hosts would lower the intensity after their early goal.
Instead Watford, far more fluent and robust than the disjointed visitors, helped themselves to a second goal in the 12th minute. It was a work of beauty, too. Pereyra again made inroads down the left, turned sharply past Danny Drinkwater and curled a delicious shot beyond Ron-Robert Zieler and into the net from the left-hand corner of the box.
Drinkwater was included in the starting lineup after passing a late fitness test but he and Daniel Amartey were regularly bypassed in the opening stages as Leicester reeled. Falling two goals behind finally provoked a reaction from the champions, who pulled a goal back in the 15th minute thanks to a successful penalty by Mahrez. The spot-kick had been awarded for a foul on Jamie Vardy despite Miguel Britos protesting that the striker had simply used an untidy challenge as an invitation to tumble. The home crowd made similar claims for the rest of the match, booing every decision given against Watford by referee Neil Swarbrick, who later booked Britos for nagging.
Leicester improved as the match went on and began to corral Watford into their own half. But they seldom bothered Heurelho Gomes, who was well protected by a vigilant home defence. Watford came closest to scoring in the second half thanks to strong work down the right by Nordin Amrabat, who rounded Christian Fuchs and fed Daryl Janmaat, who calmly deposited the ball on to the head of Pereyra. The forward’s header from close-range was much more central than it should have been but still demanded a terrific save from Zieler.
Claudio Ranieri made a trio of late substitutions and at last began to threaten an equaliser. But Watford were not about to let them off the hook, their defenders making repeated last-ditch blocks to hold on to victory.
Ranieri is not sounding the alarm. Just as he spent most of last season talking down Leicester’s title chances, he played up their performance here.
“Watford scored two fantastic goals and then we did a very fantastic reaction,” said Ranieri. “Gomes didn’t make any saves but I think until the end we had a chance to score a goal because the team was alive. But against us today there was a big wall to stop all our shots at goal. We lost the match but the spirit is high. I’m proud of them.”
