Emmanuel Dennis inspires Watford to victory vs Norwich
Nigeria’s Emmanuel Dennis opened the scoring on Saturday for Watford to inspire the Hornets to a 3-1 defeat of Norwich to get back to winning ways since their last win on the opening day of the season, where another early Dennis goal brought about their only previous victory.
Dennis’ co-winger and Watford talisman Ismaila Sarr scored twice to extend Norwich’s losing start to the Premier League season to five out of five games played so far, making their return to the EPL particularly dreadful.
Sarr, who is the Hornets’ record signing, continued to prove his loyalty and worth, which facilitated their return to the EPL, by being more than a handful for the Norwich defence to handle as his brace put the game beyond the hosts after Dennis’ goal had been levelled by Norwich’s Teemu Pukki.
The goal that Dennis used to break the deadlock was a header that the Nigerian squeezed beyond Tim Krul, the Norwich keeper, which the forward was able to convert by taking advantage of the dreadful marking of the backline of Daniel Farke’s charges.
With 10 minutes of the first half left, Pukki sprang the offside trap brilliantly and drove a hard shot that gave Ben Foster, in the Watford goal, no chance at keeping out. That equaliser was only the second league goal of the season for Norwich, both of which have come from Pukki’s boots.
It was after this that Sarr seized the chance to put Watford ahead with a decisive lead three minutes after the hour mark. The forward displayed a striker’s instincts to beat Grant Hanley to the ball before flicking it into the net for his first for the evening.
That poacher’s mindset was again apparent for Sarr’s second. A goal-bound Josh King shot was parried into Sarr’s path and the gifted player took every care to make sure not to take full advantage of the chance. The goal was initially believed to have been the product of an offside move.
However, after carefully reviewing the replays on the pitch-side monitor, referee Robert Jones determined King had been onside when he received the ball from Tom Cleverley. The goal was allowed to stand with 10 minutes remaining of the second half but Watford held to the end to take all three points.
Tough days lie ahead for Norwich, which had the toughest of starts playing the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Leicester and Arsenal. For them to have also struggled against a fellow promoted side to the point of losing at home by such a margin means they must improve steadfastly to remain in the EPL rather than immediately drop as they did previously.
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