Post-match reading
Dominic Fifield’s match report:
And Barney Ronay on the exit music turning up for Antonio Conte …
And that will do for tonight. Enjoy yourselves Watford fans. Chelsea fans...well, you know the drill by now, surely.
Well then. The most immediate, important note is that Watford now have a slightly plumper cushion between them and the relegation zone - six points, in fact. But the headlines will of course be about the shambles of Chelsea, and the chances of them finding a big bin in which to put Antonio Conte. But, as I mentioned at the start, one wonders if he’ll care: if he really was going to leave in the summer, this way he will merely get a nice wedge for something he was going to do anyway.
Full-time: Watford 4 (four)-1 Chelsea
Peeeeeeeeeeeep.
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90 mins +6: Giroud nearly gets a goal, reaching for a stab at goal but it goes wide. And that should be that.
90 mins +5: Do you think Chelsea are drafting that statement of support for Antonio?
90 mins +4: This game is a touch difficult to assess: Watford have been excellent, and their pressing has forced a lot of errors, but Chelsea have been desperate, on the back foot from the start and don’t deserve much more than this.
90 mins +3: Change for Watford: Deeney off, Andre Gray on.
90 mins +1: Chelsea are collapsing like a flan in a cupboard. Doucoure slips a nice ball into the area for Pereyra, who goes to shoot, checks and creates a bit more of an angle, then lets fly into the far corner. Amazing.
GOAL! Watford 4-1 Chelsea (Pereyra 90+1)
Oh my.
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90 mins +1: We’ll have six minutes of injury time.
The real tragedy of all of this is we’re not going to get to see what Antonio Conte would have done with all those players he bought as a joke.
— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) February 5, 2018
90 mins: If anyone out there knows Guus Hiddink, just tell him to keep his phone on tonight.
89 mins: And with that, Deulofeu trots off, his work for the evening done. Andre Carrillo comes on.
88 mins: Perhaps a consequence of tiring, ten-men legs, perhaps a consequence of some very good off the ball runs, but Deulofeu is basically allowed to run into the penalty area from halfway, and when he gets there he shoots, it’s deflected, and game over.
GOAL! Watford 3-1 Chelsea (Deulofeu 88)
Well, well, well.
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86 mins: To the man writing in trying to convince me you’re Jurgen Klopp: knock it on the head.
84 mins: Brilliant work from Janmaat. He picks the ball up on the right, looks for a crossing option which doesn’t present itself, so he simply chooses to jink into the box. He plays a great one-two with Pereyra, finds himself through on goal so coolly slots a left-footed shot into the bottom corner. Superb, and what a few minutes!
GOAL! Watford 2-1 Chelsea (Janmaat 84)
Becauase of course it is.
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82 mins: Hazard has only really played for about ten minutes in this game, but when that ten minutes includes a strike like that it doesn’t massively matter. He picks the ball up about 25 yards out, just to the left of centre, cuts across the face of goal and almost delicately guides a powerful shot into the bottom corner. Karnezis got his fingertips to it - and the harsh might say he should have saved it - but it eludes him.
GOAL! Watford 1-1 Chelsea (Hazard 82)
Good god, that’s brilliant.
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81 mins: Big chance for Chelsea: Hazard gets down the right, he cuts back a cross which Azpilicueta dummies for Fabregas, but his low shot towards the near-post is saved relatively easily.
80 mins: “Do you think Antonio Conte should make it a little less obvious?” writes Adam Hirst.
79 mins: Deulofeu absolutely rinses Fabregas, who looks like an old man running into the wind. Deulofeu passes inside from the right to Doucoure, but his shot is blocked by...Fabregas. Maybe he was just running smart all along.
77 mins: At least the Chelsea fans have a sense of humour about this turgid effort: “Barcelona, we’re coming for you,” they sing.
76 mins: A rasper from Holebas, about 30-odd yards out, but it rasped straight at Courtois, who pats it down comfortably enough.
73 mins: Oh, well, Watford should be two ahead: Pereyra cuts one back from the byline, it heads towards Deulofeu who would’ve had a clear shot on goal, but Deeney intercepts, then passes to Deulofeu. Frustrating from their point of view.
71 mins: Bit of a quiet patch. Watford have still been the better team, still deserve their lead. Only Kante among the Chelsea players has been close to his best: Hazard has been the most notably quiet, perhaps because he genuinely has been no good but also perhaps because he’s capable of being so very good.
68 mins: A Chelsea attack! Moses scraps his way into the box from the right, his cross is cleared then another ball aims for Giroud, but he’s just beaten to the header. Still, progress for the reigning champions, and about the best they’ve managed so far.
66 mins: Watford counter, and Doucoure makes a driving run from the centre-circle, taking it all the way to the edge of the box before letting loose with a shot, but Courtois saves.
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65 mins: Change for Watford: Richarlison comes off - a bit of a surprise given how sparky he’s looked - and Roberto Pereyra is on.
63 mins: Pedro is helped off, and on comes Olivier Giroud for his Chelsea dayboo.
62 mins: Fabregas absolutely ploughs through Deulofeu, who lies on the ground with his arms in the air as if to scream “WHY?” at an unfair universe. He’s eventually booked. Pedro then collapses to the floor for reasons unknown, but he looks in some pain. Around him Watford still attack, but Janmaat’s left-footed shot is dragged well wide.
60 mins: From that free-kick, the ball falls to Deulofeu just outside the box, but his measured shot goes just wide. And then Courtois plays the goal kick, Deeney tackles Luiz and feeds Richarlison, who hits a very similar low shot that very similarly goes wide.
59 mins: Some rough-housing between Luiz and Doucoure ends in the Chelsea man booting his opponent in the back of the leg. Free-kick to Watford, yellow card to Luiz.
58 mins: Watford attack down the right: Janmaat sends a cross over from deep, Richarlison tries to head it back into the middle from the far post but it drifts too far ahead of Deeney and goes out.
55 mins: Some enormously enjoyable, hugely needless flamboyance from Kante, deep in Chelsea’s left-back slot, he tries a stepover to get out of trouble then a backheel: hugely irresponsible, obviously, but don’t say that like it’s a bad thing.
54 mins: Ooof, watching the replays back of that incident it looked brutal, Moses running, eyes on the ball, but full pelt into the back of Zeegelaar. Both have been patched up though, and should be fine.
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50 mins: Prodl goes into the book for a ropey old challenge on Hazard. Then Moses goes for a header at the back stick, but only succeeds in barrelling into the back of Zeegelaar. Both men will need some attention.
48 mins: The second-half has begun in much the same way as the first ended, with Watford all over Chelsea like the most stubborn of rashes. They haven’t been able to get out of their own half so far.
46 mins: We’re off. Or re-off. “Are any other Chelsea fans liberatingly amused at the prospect of playing Barcelona in a fortnight?” asks Rob Hobson.
The players are out on the pitch, no further changes, and we’re ready to go again.
Just time to read this, by Richard Williams, about the journalists who died in the Munich air crash. Contains the fairly remarkable revelation that John Arlott was due to be on the plane, but was bumped in favour of the Guardian’s Donny Davies.
Meanwhile, in Liverpool U23s v Tottenham U23s...
Spurs youngster George Marsh making friends with Adam Lallana. He wasn’t impressed. pic.twitter.com/tzjwmP5qbd
— Alasdair Gold (@AlasdairGold) February 5, 2018
Well then. Chelsea have looked like a team coming to terms with some bad news in this game. Watford have been all over them from the start, and even though their goal came from a penalty, they entirely deserve their lead.
Half-time: Watford 1-0 Chelsea
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins +2: Pedro has a chance, on the left of the area, and for a second it looks like they will go in at the break with a barely-deserved leveller...but he skies the shot and that’ll be it for the half.
45 mins +1: Two minutes of added time, and in the first of them Watford nearly score straight from a corner. Think it was Holebas, and Courtois looked nervous at the near-post for a second.
45 mins: Yellow card for Richarlison, for legging up Pedro in the centre-circle. Didn’t look like the most heinous infraction, in all honesty...
44 mins: One for stat, and Deano fans.
Mike Dean has now shown more red cards than any PL club has ever received. #showbiz
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) February 5, 2018
Mike Dean 89
Everton 88
Arsenal 84
Newcastle 80
Chelsea 78
43 mins: Actually that wasn’t the greatest penalty, on second look: Deeney gave it some welly, but it wasn’t especially near the corner. Courtois just didn’t really dive, probably expecting Deeney to go down the middle. But, it went in, and it’s exactly what Watford - and indeed Chelsea - deserve.
GOAL! Watford 1-0 Chelsea (Deeney 42)
And scores! Thumped into the bottom corner.
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PENALTY TO WATFORD
41 mins: Deulofeu chases a ball into the area on the right, Courtois charges out and the Spaniard goes down. Think Kane yesterday, with maybe a little less contact. Deeney steps up...
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39 mins: This will be the last comment on Bakayoko, given that pointing out he was absolutely trousers in the short time he was on the pitch is apparently frowned upon, but...
What was the biggest disappointment?
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) February 5, 2018
- Watching Tiemoue Bakayoko play for Chelsea after seeing how good he was for Monaco
- Watching Ibrahima Bakayoko play for Everton after seeing how good he was on Championship Manager 97-98
37 mins: Our own Barney Ronay gets a shout out from the Sky commentators, for his observation that Conte looks like a man “clenching his fists like a man strangling invisible kittens”. That’s from this column, broadly about Ross Barkley, from the other week.
36 mins: Some fanmail, with the subject line ‘Bakayoko red card’, from Russell Dean: “Who are you going to disparage, ridicule and generally take the piss out of now? The Guardian, a bourgeoise version of the Beano.”
35 mins: In the event, only half of that suggested change occurs: Fabregas replaces the admittedly unlucky Willian, who hasn’t played badly. Or at least no worse than most Chelsea players. Richarlison takes aim with another shot, but Courtois saves.
34 mins: If I was Conte - and Chelsea fans can thank their lucky stars I’m not - I’d make a double change here. Fabregas and Giroud on for Willian and Pedro. Shores up the midfield but also gives them a “point of reference”, as Conte is so fond of saying, up top.
33 mins: Maybe this will allow Chelsea to test the old saying that Kante covers the ground of two men. They’ve reduced the game to walking pace, presumably to partly allow Cesc Fabregas to get ready to come on, but also to just regain a semblance of control.
RED CARD - Bakayoko
30 mins: A mercy red card. Bakayoko once again loses the ball in midfield, stretches to regain it but instead of doing that he goes in on Richarlison. It didn’t look like the worst challenge in the world, but it’s apparently worth a second yellow card (the first was, I think, for the foul on Capoue a few minutes ago). Given the 30 minutes he’s had, it’s probably for the best.
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28 mins: Moses attempts to control a devillishly awkward bouncing ball in the area, and does so - with his arm. As we’ve seen this weekend the laws of football can be a little murky and hard to figure out, but we can clarify this one: that’s not allowed.
27 mins: Apropos of absolutely nothing...
Better picture! Showing all the shirt. If I am correct. @HKane gave it to him at Wembley. When We beat Liverpool. COYS pic.twitter.com/4VSsjBPVtL
— osvaldo ardiles (@osvaldooardiles) February 5, 2018
24 mins: A clownish few seconds for Bakayoko: he receives a pass from Luiz but seemingly has no idea of what’s around him, that what being Capoue who dispossesses him. Bakayoko then not only fouls his opponent in trying to get the ball back, but falls on Capoue’s leg, causing him some pain. He’s playing like you returning to five-a-side after six weeks away.
23 mins: Azpilicueta attempts to bypass the midfield problem by playing a big, booming pass from deep on the right, but it’s too far ahead of any forward it might have been aimed towards and Watford keeper Karnezis gathers.
20 mins: A brief pause as Deulofeu gathers himself following taking a ball to the chops. Chelsea really can’t get going here: Watford have pressed relentlessly, and when one of your two central midfielders is a walking mistake, it’s understandable that they can’t get beyond 30 yards from their own goal.
18 mins: ...which they make an awful mess of, taking it short entirely pointlessly, and Holebas loses the ball then fouls Kante before he can cross. But Watford win it back, Richarlison jinks outside the box and lets fly with a strong shot, but it’s blocked.
17 mins: Richarlison has started in spunky form: he runs at Azpilicueta again down the Watford left, and while his drilled cross is blocked he does win them a corner...
15 mins: Richarlison jazzes down the left after a bobbling ball falls past Azpilicueta and into his path, but ultimately the cross he hits after cutting back onto his right foot is too strong.
12 mins: Finally a chance for Chelsea: Moses crosses from the right, it’s half-cleared by Holebas and it falls to Willian, who absolutely leathers it but just a little too high, and it sails into the stands.
10 mins: Great, great chance for Watford. A corner comes over from the left, Deeney loses his marker with troubling ease and finds himself free about eight yards out, but he can’t get anything significant on a volley and it skews wide. Chelsea are, in the words of an Australian cricketer, under the pump here.
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9 mins: Another chance for Watford, and again they mither Chelsea out of possession in midfield. Deulofeu runs into the box from the right, shoots but it goes into the side-netting.
8 mins: Watford on top in the early stages: the ball breaks to Doucoure on the edge of the box, and in that wonderfully lissom-legged way of his shoots, but drags that one wide.
7 mins: Speaking of Tiemoue, Matt Dony writes: “Dropping Bakayoko would effectively be a tacit acknowledgment that maybe, just maybe, selling Matic to a direct rival might not have been the best plan. ie Exactly what many, many people said back in August. But then, hey, Conte hardly seems too worried what people think at the moment, so what do I know?”
5 mins: Bakayoko plays a near suicidal, blindingly casual pass sort of towards Cahill, but the buzzing Deulofeu nips in to intercept, but his touch is heavy and takes it through to Courtois.
4 mins: Another change I missed: your referee is not actually the trailed Craig Pawson, but rather your pal and mine Mike Dean. Not sure of the reason for the sub.
3 mins: Courtois is rushed into a booted clearance by the insistent Deulofeu, but he successfully gets the ball away from bother and into the stands. As the ball bobbles around the Chelsea box shortly afterwards, the crowd demand a handball: no players join in, but replays show the ball did strike Cahill on the hand, but he was looking the other way & couldn’t really stop.
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1 min: And we’re away, the Chelsea fans announcing with some gusto where their bread is buttered if there is any schism between manager and board.
(It’s with Conte)
The players are out on the pitch, and we will have some football shortly.
Additional:
@NickMiller79 Also on the list of inexplicably undroppable midfielders, Wenger and Xhaka.
— Tanay Padhi (@tanaypadhi) February 5, 2018
You know, I completely missed that Davy Luiz is back for Chelsea, his first Premier League start since October. Could be fun.
See also: Mauricio Pochettino’s touching yet inexplicable love affair with Moussa Sissoko...
@NickMiller79 Is Bakayoko's continued status as undroppable and un-subabble part of Conte's Operation I'd-Like-To-Go-Home-Now-Please? If not, any idea what's going on there?
— Tom Madders (@TomMadders) February 5, 2018
We have a back & forth on our hands. Manas Mitul (19.18) replies to Benjamin Park (19.31): “So, basically what Mr Park is saying is to play with the same setup with which you lost 3-0 at home and not change anything at all.”
Repatriated from Massachusetts writes: “Maybe it’s just because Reg has announced his farewell tour, but seeing that clip of the stadium takes me nostalgically back - him arriving in a pink Rolls or helicoptering down onto the pitch before kick off, with my friends standing in the Rookery singing ‘Elton John’s Bisexual Army!’ as loud as we could, just to get him to stand up and give that embarrassed little wave of thanks. Haven’t been back in years, but I imagine it’s all San Pellegrino water now and Panettone at the stadium…”
Can’t comment on the fizzy water and Italian cake selections at Vicarage Road, but I can tell you that in the press room at Watford - which is in the Elton John Stand, the side opposite to where the TV cameras are - is decorated with massive pictures of Elton with celeb pals such as Jack Nicholson, Barrie White and, naturally, Princess Di...
“I’ve got to defend Conte for choosing a false 9,” writes Benjamin Park, compelled by a higher force. “You get thrashed 3:0 at home, the following game you might wanna stay with what you know, not experiment with the unknown.”
Team news, then: interesting stuff up top for both sides, as Watford start with Troy Deeney, who at one point looked like he was doing one to pastures elsewhere, while new boy Ged Deulofeu starts, with Richarlison completing the three. Chelsea’s fresh recruits - Olly Giroud and Emerson Palmieri - are both on the bench, Conte preferring the old false nine of Eden Hazard, in the absence of Al Morata.
Seems reasonable, although not everyone is impressed...
Search under every seedy little rock for a striker, find one after taking part in a transfer circus involving two other clubs, then put him on the bench and play with a false 9 instead. Shows how much faith you have in your new signing.
— Manas Mitul (@ManasMitul) February 5, 2018
Team news
Watford
Karnezis; Mariappa, Prodl, Holebas, Janmaat; Capoue, Doucoure, Zeegelaar; Deulofeu, Richarlison, Deeney. Subs: Ndong, Gray, Lukebakio, Carrillo, Bachmann, Pereyra, Mukena.
Chelsea
Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill; Moses, Kante, Bakayoko, Zappacosta; Willian, Pedro, Hazard. Subs: Caballero, Rudiger, Fabregas, Drinkwater, Giroud, Emerson, Hudson-Odoi.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
Preamble
Of all the managers in the Premier League, who do you think would be the least bothered if he got sacked? Jose Mourinho could move out of the Deluxe Travel Tavern, I guess. Javi Gracia probably knows it’s coming in the next 9-12 months anyway. Sam Allardyce could top up his furious sense of grievance against the world and all that have wronged him. And then there’s Antonio Conte.
The accepted wisdom is that Conte will probably leave Chelsea in the summer anyway, sick to his very back teeth of the machinations at Stamford Bridge, not getting the players he ever wants and suffering the indignity of having to manage Ross Barkley. Plus, as is entirely understandable, maybe he just wants to go home.
So, while his professional pride might take a small kick in the pants, he might be handed some fat stacks of cash for something he was going to do anyway, just a few months earlier than planned. He’s certainly been moping around with a face like a smacked bum in recent weeks, the demeanour of a man who is quite simply tired of this guff.
He clearly doesn’t really give two big ones anymore, as his comments the other day might suggest. From Dominic Fifield’s report:
I must be honest, there were these type of rumours and speculation [that he might be sacked] even after the first game of the season when we lost against Burnley,” Conte said. “Maybe I’d like the club to prepare a statement for me, no? To say they trust me in my work and my job.
“But, at the same time, I know this never happened in the past, so why should I hope for something different? But, for sure, I’d like to have a statement of support against this speculation. The challenge is that, in the past, this never happened. So it’s a big challenge [for the board] to change the approach now. But, for sure, I’d be glad.”
If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that sounds like a man trying to get sacked, or at least daring his bosses to do it. All of which drapes a rather interesting cloth over this game, against Watford, a team with their own managerial foibles. A win would take Chelsea over Liverpool into third place, while for Watford three points would move them from 11th to...erm...11th, albeit a more comfortable six points clear of the relegation zone as opposed to the slightly more nervy current three.
Admittedly, not the highest of stakes. But you never know. Could still be fun.
Kick-off: 20.00 GMT
Nick will be here shortly, but in the meantime read Simon Burnton on the position Watford find themselves in before this match:
The reunion with Chelsea on Monday will probably prompt some short‑term nostalgia at Watford. The last time they met, after all, represented – at least for an hour – probably the apogee of the club’s Premier League project, and for all the drama of their league season so far it is possible to pick out a single moment within this single match at which they were at their brightest and best and after which life has never quite been the same.
At Stamford Bridge in October Watford led 2-1, missed a ludicrously straightforward chance to lead 3-1 and generally outplayed their hosts for much of the game. They were a team bursting with attacking threat in the early days of Marco Silva’s leadership, a more convincing and certainly more compelling side than those produced in the club’s two preceding top-flight seasons by Quique Sánchez Flores and Walter Mazzarri.
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