FULL TIME: Watford 0-0 Chelsea
And that’s that. Watford possibly shaded the first half; Chelsea were certainly the better team in the second. But some exceptional goalkeeping by Heurelho Gomes - in particular that late reflex save to deny Diego Costa - earned the home side a point that on balance is deserved. Chelsea’s unbeaten run under Hiddink continues, and they rise to 13th. Watford, meanwhile, leapfrog Stoke into ninth. On the touchline, Diego Costa hugs Quique Sánchez Flores and smiles. See? There’s nice!
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90 min +2: Fabregas hoicks long and finds the head of Diego Costa, but the striker can only flick on harmlessly towards Gomes.
90 min +1: Nothing comes of the corner. But Chelsea don’t get the ball very far upfield, and the clock’s ticking. Watford will be much happier with the point than the visitors will.
90 min: A throw for Watford, deep in Chelsea territory down the left. After taking some time to get the game restarted, Deeney manages to squeak a corner out of the situation. Before the set piece can be taken, the fourth official’s board goes up: there will be three extra minutes.
88 min: Willian is sent scampering down the right by a driving ball from Diego Costa. He wins another corner. From which Willian scoops a wonder cross towards the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Diego Costa rises, and bangs a header towards the top left. But Gomes, who has been exceptional tonight, somehow claws it out for a corner. What a save! Oscar slips while taking the resulting set piece, and Watford batter clear.
87 min: Suarez comes on for his Watford debut. Capoue is the man to make way.
86 min: Diego Costa nearly bursts clear into the Watford area down the right, but Cathcart is on his case and forces the striker to settle for a corner. The set piece is sent straight out of play by Fabregas. Watford breathe out.
84 min: It’s attack versus defence right now. Chelsea are pinning Watford back. Terry channels his inner Beckenbauer and powerwalks his way down the inside-left channel, before feeding Oscar into the box. Oscar stands one up to the far post, where Diego Costa lashes a close-range bicycle kick into the side netting. So close to what would almost certainly be the winner.
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82 min: Willian races down the right, and rolls a pass across the Watford area. Nyom should clear, but misjudges, falls over as he tries to toe the ball away, and Hazard has the ball at his feet, level with the left-hand post, ten yards from goal! But he takes a woefully heavy first touch, and Gomes, super-alert, comes out to smother the ball. That’s brilliant keeping. The sub looking a little rusty there.
80 min: Hazard has injected a little bit of pace and purpose into Chelsea’s attack. He busies himself down the left, then shuttles the ball inside for Oscar, whose flick into the box down the channel nearly finds Diego Costa. But not quite.
79 min: To the right of the Watford D, Willian releases Hazard down the channel. Hazard reaches the byline and pulls the ball back for Ivanovic, steaming in. Ivanovic opens his body and connects strongly with the inside of his foot. It’s got goal written all over it, but Gomes somehow blocks the ball, up into the air and out for a corner. The resulting set piece finds Terry caught offside, and the pressure on Watford is off.
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77 min: Ighalo wins a corner off Azpilicueta down the right. Watson whips it towards Prodl on the penalty spot. Prodl rises and heads wide right, but there’s been a deflection. Another corner. Chelsea deal with that one easily enough. But that was a decent half-chance for Prodl there. He’ll have been hoping for better contact.
75 min: Zouma is all over the back of Ighalo, as the Watford striker looks to make off down the left. A long free kick is sent towards the Chelsea box, but Terry rises to bash a header clear, Deeney very much second best in that duel.
73 min: Chelsea make their first change of the evening, and it’s an attacking one, Matic being withdrawn in favour of Hazard. That’s gone down well with the away support.
72 min: Capoue looks to feed Deeney into acres of space down the inside-right channel. The striker would be tearing free were it not for the arm of Terry, which stopped Capoue’s ball from close range. That looked a deliberate motion, but it was a very clever one too, Terry computing that the referee could never give that free kick with complete certainty, so close were the two players. A wily grift.
70 min: Oscar drops a shoulder as he cuts in from the left, and sends a low shot towards the bottom left. It’s probably going wide, but Gomes can take no chances, and tips round well for a corner. The set piece is a non-event.
68 min: Paredes, perhaps tired after executing an Olympic standard triple salchow while lying down during that ridiculous spat with Diego Costa, is replaced by Nyom.
66 min: Oscar gives the ball away 30 yards from goal. Deeney, down the inside-right channel, looks to release Ighalo into the middle of the area with a low curling pass. Zouma intercepts, but clumsily so, and breathes a sigh of relief as the ball flies wide right of the post. On target, and a flat-footed Courtois wasn’t getting to that. The corner’s cleared easily enough.
64 min: The first change of the evening sees Watford hook Jurado, who started strongly only to fade, and throw on Abdi.
62 min: Free kick for Watford out on the right, and a chance for his team-mates to pack the Chelsea box. Watson hits it deep, looking for Ighalo, but Terry heads clear. This game’s not quite flowing as it once did.
60 min: Willian rolls a pass down the right wing to release Diego Costa into acres. The striker should power into the area and have a shot, but he miscontrols as he checks back, and the ball breaks upfield. Chelsea recycle possession, and Matic has a dig from 25 yards. It’s straight at Gomes, and snaffled by the keeper, though only after he makes a seven-course tasting menu of it.
58 min: Watford hog the ball awhile. Capoue is obstructed as he romps down the left. He wants a free kick, but the referee waves play on. Watford would have preferred the set piece, and a chance to load the box. But they’re not getting it, and eventually possession is squandered. Poor refereeing, though I guess the official was trying to do the right thing.
56 min: Matic bursts into space down the inside-left channel. He flicks a ball forward to release Diego Costa into the box. The striker’s offside, but the flag doesn’t go up. Diego Costa hovers on the byline, to the left of the goal, before pulling back for Oscar, racing in. Oscar sends a first-time flick with the side of his boot wide left. It was easier to score, though the miss ensures justice has been done.
54 min: A slight drop in tempo. This game’s been pretty full-on from the get-go, so the lull is noted.
52 min: The brilliant Holebas exchanges a crisp one-two with Capoue down the left, and lashes a fierce shot into the side netting. Half the ground thought that was in, and celebrate accordingly. The volume quickly dies. But that was fine, direct play by Watford. This second half has started in the same entertaining fashion as the first.
50 min: Diego Costa tries to shoogle his way, Steve Nicol style, past Paredes. The full back stands strong, and eventually the Chelsea striker loses his balance. The lads playing nicely there.
49 min: But Watford aren’t taking that lying down. Some head tennis on the edge of the Chelsea area, and Deeney is afforded the chance to take a snapshot at goal. He whips a low effort wide left from the right-hand side of the D. Not too far away. This could easily be 1-1. In goals, rather than red cards, though of course on another day, etc., and so on, and so forth.
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47 min: A wonderful start to the half by Chelsea. Oscar is sent into space in the left of the Watford box by Fabregas. His low shot is blocked. Then the rebound is met by Mikel, who sends a deflected shot looping up and down. Gomes, backtracking in a panic, just about manages to tip the ball over the bar. The corner comes to nothing.
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And we're off again!
Watford get the second half underway. No changes, which means Paredes and Diego Costa could soon be at it in the pantomime style yet again. Here’s hoping, eh kids. “Holebas oils the machine that is Watford, and his willingness to take the ball is a decongestant for midfield.” A round of applause for Matt Dony, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the fried onions. Other eucalyptus-based inhalers are available.
Half-time entertainment: Something to keep everyone happy, courtesy of Watford’s erstwhile chairman.
HALF TIME: Watford 0-0 Chelsea
Diego Costa goes down looking for a penalty kick, lumbering after Ivanovic’s right-wing cross. Nope! He squats on his haunches, milking the booing that’s cascading down from the stands. And that’s that for the first half. Diego Costa is preposterous, but so very entertaining. He’s worth the entrance fee alone. The second half should be great fun. No flipping!
45 min: Diego Costa has a little set-to with Paredes near the centre circle. Paredes shoves the striker to the floor. Then Diego Costa returns the favour. It’s a bench-emptying scene, both men having fouled and been fouled. Deeney sprints halfway across the pitch to spark it up. Costa gets a hug from Sánchez Flores. Then he considers kicking off seriously with Paredes, despite both shoves having been soft as puppies and kittens. Paredes rolled around awhile clutching his face, which might have lit that particular fuse. The referee waits a while for everyone to calm down, then shows both grown men the yellow card. That’s fine refereeing. What a business.
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43 min: Azpilicueta, stepping into the Watford box dowm the left, tries to guide a low fizzer into the bottom right with the outside of his boot. It’s always going wide, and Gomes had the angles covered anyway. Meanwhile here’s Phil Withall, all the way from a “stupidly humid” Brisbane: “Having got through the first hour of work I managed to take a peek at the MBM, saw the image of burgers and sausages and cold people and suddenly had a yearning to be back in the Old Country. Then I remembered I support Norwich, so I’m probably better off out of it.”
41 min: Holebas, who has been very impressive this evening, bursts into the Chelsea box from the left. And then goes down. A little bit of contact on the back of his leg by Ivanovic, but Holebas takes another touch before going down, so the referee isn’t having it. Contact was outside the box anyway. But then Watford would have taken the free kick, and that wouldn’t have been the most outrageous decision.
40 min: A lot of metronomic passing from Chelsea. Of course, all the funkiest tunes have fatback breakbeats. They go nowhere.
38 min: For the first time in the match, it’s all a bit scrappy. Passes not sticking. A load of nonsense in the midfield. But this has been a pretty good match otherwise. Both sides have earned their downtime.
35 min: Chelsea finally apply some sustained pressure on Watford. Diego Costa dribbles into the area down the left and nearly finds Oscar on the penalty spot with a pull-back. Then another phase of attack, and it’s Oscar making good down the left this time, but he can’t find Willian in the middle with his high cross.
32 min: Diego Costa goes romping after Oscar’s long ball down the inside-left channel. He twists and turns Cathcart on the edge of the box, then sends a low shot across Gomes and inches wide of the right-hand post. A slight deflection off Cathcart, and that’s a corner. Watford clear the set piece easily enough. “The last few minutes were a fine reminder why Chelsea find themselves in 14th place,” suggests Ezra Finkelstein.
31 min: Another magnificent cross from the left by Holebas. Azpilicueta heads clear at the far post with Ighalo on his shoulder. Jurado tries to keep the pressure on with an overhead pass from the edge of the area, but Courtois is always going to pluck a soft one like that from the sky. “Thanks for posting my low bar-setting missive,” writes Peter Oh (15 min). “Hey, a goal is a goal. A lucky deflection off one’s backside counts as much as a top-drawer 30-yard belter.”
28 min: Watford are on top now. Deeney heads down for Ighalo, who shoots weakly at Courtois from 20 yards. The home side are soon coming at their guests again, the excellent Jurado dribbling across the Chelsea box, left to right, then feeding Capoue in space on the right. Capoue is motoring, and batters a rising shot towards the top right. Courtois parries the vicious effort clear with a strong arm. Wow, that was travelling.
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27 min: The busy Jurado wins another corner for Watford down the right. The ball’s sent towards Prodl on the penalty spot. A header either side of Courtois, and he scores. But he whistles his powerful effort straight at the keeper. Chelsea look all over the shop while defending corners.
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25 min: Watford should be leading. Holebas dribbles slowly down the left, then suddenly burns Ivanovic with a stunning burst of pace. The very second Holebas has enough space, he sends a screaming, dipping cross to the far post, where Ighalo awaits, six yards out. He’s got to score, but he mistimes his header and fluffs it straight into the ground. He lost the flight there, Terry in front of him obscuring his view perhaps. What a chance, though!
22 min: Decisions to be made at both ends. First Fabregas slips Oscar free into the Watford box down the left. Oscar attempts a rabona from a tight angle. It’s saved by Gomes, and Oscar’s offside anyway. Then up the other end, Jurado goes down as he breaks into the Chelsea box from the right. The referee isn’t having any of the resulting penalty claim, and no wonder, because he went down far too easily after being shouldered by Matic.
21 min: Terry climbs all over Deeney, 30 yards from goal. One-man Gwen Stefani earworm Holebas takes an ambitious whack from distance. The ball deflects off a Chelsea boot and nearly falls to Ighalo on the edge of the area in a central position, but the ball fizzes through to Courtois.
19 min: A no-brainer of a booking for Prodl, who clatters Oscar in the agricultural style as the Chelsea man spins him down the left. He’ll need to be on his guard now. The resulting set piece comes to nothing.
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18 min: ... another mild brouhaha in the Chelsea box. The corner’s hit long. Ighalo, level with the left-hand post, heads goalwards. Deeney tries an overhead kick from close range. Courtois gathers a looping ball. Chelsea still don’t look their old selves at the back. Or maybe the “old selves” bit is the point. A couple of the lads getting creaky in their dotage.
17 min: Space for Jurado in the middle of the Chelsea box, earned by a swift turn on the ball. He sprays a pass wide right for Capoue, who earns Watford a corner. From which ...
15 min: Costa twists and turns down the inside-right channel, and very nearly works space for a clear shot on goal. He has a dig anyway, ten yards out, but Cathcart has stuck to his man well, and blocks the ball away from danger. Fine football all round. “I don’t have a horse in this race but I’m glad I paid a visit to your mbm because it sure looks sizzling!” begins Peter Oh. “Not the action on the pitch. The photo of the burger van! Woof.” The bar’s set low tonight, folks. No other emails to choose from, you see. Not a sausage.
12 min: Oscar looks to have been sent clear into the Watford area down the right by a cute reverse ball from Ivanovic. But the play’s stopped. Not for offside, but because Diego Costa, in the centre, has just planted both palms on Prodl’s chest and shoved him over in the basic style. All that needed for the full playground effect was Fabregas on all fours behind Prodl’s back. The ref gives Diego Costa a mild bollocking, perhaps reminding him that he’s a 27-year-old grown man. But you wouldn’t have him any other way, would you? He’s incredibly entertaining.
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10 min: A little pinball in the Chelsea box, Ighalo nearing the byline on the right and centring, Jurado trying to latch onto the ball on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. He nearly runs the ball out of play, but hooks it back into the danger zone. Zouma finally puts an end to the fuss.
9 min: Willian has a little space down the right, and Diego Costa’s making himself known in the Watford area. But Willian’s curler is far too close to Gomes, who claims with a yawn. It’s been a nice open start to this game, both sides bringing attacking intent to the table.
8 min: Watford started slowly, but they’re warming up now. Deeney wins a long ball forward and finds Ighalo - who looks good to continue - down the inside-right channel. Ighalo makes for the box and shoots, the ball deflected out off Azpilicueta for a corner on the right. The resulting set piece doesn’t come to anything.
6 min: Jurado robs Fabregas in the midfield and romps off at some speed down the left. He tries to round Ivanovic on the outside, and gets a hand in the boat for his trouble. A free kick. Watford load the box. Watson swings it into the mixer. Terry heads clear with purpose.
4 min: Ighalo is hobbling around, holding his left thigh. A hamstring? Actually, maybe not, he’s taken a knee from Zouma, so hopefully he’ll be able to run that off.
3 min: All Chelsea in the early stages. Watford have hardly had a touch so far.
2 min: A long ball down the Chelsea left for Diego Costa to chase. He can’t quite control, but Oscar picks up the rebound. Fabregas gets involved, and very nearly finds Diego Costa near the Watford box, but the pass is a bit strong and Behrami can usher the ball out of play. A lively enough start by the visitors, though.
And we're off!
Watford get into a huddle, while Chelsea do a bit of ostentatious high-fiving. It’s like the start of the Super Bowl. Almost. And then Chelsea get the ball rolling.
The teams are out! A fine atmosphere at Vicarage Road for this London derby. (Cut me some slack, they’re both on the Tube.) The Hornets are in their yellow-and-black shirts, the Blues sport their blue ones. Just as it should be. We’ll be off in a minute!
Quique Sánchez Flores speaks! But not to BT Sport, it would seem. His team will be getting the full benefit of his pre-match patter. Fair enough as well.
Guus Hiddink speaks! “We are not yet back to our best. We can improve still. We have a game coming up: can we maintain it? ... I know John Terry and he is so professional that there is no doubt he will give his best [despite all this captaincy hoo-hah] ... It’s too soon for Alexandre Pato as it’s pre-season for him.”
Watford make two changes from their last Premier League match against Newcastle United. Sebastian Prödl and Jose Holebas come in for Miguel Britos and the ineligible Chelsea loan signing Nathan Aké.
Chelsea meanwhile name the same eleven men who did the usual against Arsenal the other week. Eden Hazard is back on the bench after his run-out at FA Franchise Concern.
Tonight's teams
Watford: Gomes, Paredes, Cathcart, Prodl, Holebas, Capoue, Watson, Behrami, Jurado, Deeney, Ighalo.
Subs: Mario Suarez, Pantilimon, Amrabat, Nyom, Guedioura, Anya, Abdi.
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Zouma, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Matic, Willian, Fabregas, Oscar, Costa.
Subs: Begovic, Baba, Hazard, Traore, Kenedy, Cahill, Loftus-Cheek.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
Good evening!
Watford versus Chelsea, 10th versus 14th. Nobody would have predicted this state of affairs at the start of the season, huh.
But here we are! It’s great news for Watford, who are on course for comfortable consolidation in the top flight for the first time since the Eighties heyday of Graham Taylor. Quique Sanchez Flores has got his side playing some determined, occasionally very attractive, football. On a day they’re a match for anyone, as Chelsea found out when they threatened to win at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day. That game ended 2-2: the visitors won’t be taking anything for granted this evening.
Chelsea in 14th, though. It’s been a shocker of a season for the Blues, though things have been looking up since that Boxing Day draw. That was interim boss Guus Hiddink’s first game back in charge, and the team are unbeaten since then. It’s not been a fairytale transformation - high-scoring draws at home to West Bromwich Albion and Everton were less than satisfactory - but a fine and deserved win at Arsenal, followed by a showboating exercise in the cup against an FA Franchise XI suggests a corner’s been turned. The hosts won’t be taking anything for granted this evening, either.
Both sides will be desperately hoping for a win tonight. Three points for Watford, and they’ll spring above Stoke City, Liverpool and Southampton into the heady heights of seventh place. Victory for Chelsea, and they’ll move into 11th place, the perfect launchpad for a return to the top half of the table. All this knocking around the bottom will have been very strange to anybody born after 1990. It’s unlikely to last much longer, whatever happens tonight.
Kick off: 7.45pm GMT.
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