The Hornets left Antonio Conte with a defeat that will sting for a long time to come as a late collapse from 10-man Chelsea saw the hosts run out 4-1 winners. Tiemoue Bakayoko was dismissed in the first half before Troy Deeney’s penalty gave Watford the lead at half time. Eden Hazard’s superb equaliser looked to have earned his side a point but goals from Daryl Janmaat, Gerard Deulofeu and Roberto Pereyra condemned Chelsea to an embarrassing defeat.
After their home humiliation at the hands of Bournemouth last week, the Blues needed to have a fast start in order to win over some of the doubters among the travelling fans. However, a sluggish opening to the game from the visitors was a sign of things to come and culminated with two bookings in a few minutes for Tiemoue Bakayoko. The Frenchman didn’t do his reputation any favours with this horror show and, quite frankly, his team are arguably better without him. Minutes after Bakayoko’s dismissal, Gerard Deulofeu found himself in behind the Chelsea defence and was brought down by an onrushing Thibaut Courtois. Despite the minimal contact and the theatrical fall, Mike Dean pointed to the spot. Watford skipper, Troy Deeney, dispatched his penalty past Courtois and ran off celebrating in crude fashion. Some of the Chelsea fans may have used the same gesture towards their team at that very moment or simply returned the favour to the gloating striker.
After the break Chelsea seemed to liven up a bit and they were boosted by the introduction of Olivier Giroud. The former Arsenal man gave the team someone to aim for and an attacking threat in the air. Eden Hazard started to come into play and, despite being a man down, the visitors looked the more likely to score. And that’s just what they did 10 minutes from time. Hazard collected the ball on the edge of the Watford penalty area and bent a curling shot into the far side of the goal with typical, elegant skill. Instead of celebrating his goal with the away contingent down that end, the Belgian gestured for the ball to be quickly brought back to the centre circle for the restart – hinting at his team’s intent to grab a winner.
That very same away contingent would have watched the next few minutes in horror as Chelsea collapsed and conceded three times before the night was out. First it was Daryl Janmaat, he played a one-two with Roberto Pereyra and waltzed unchallenged past Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta to slot past Courtois, dragging his shot back past the big Belgian’s outstretched legs. Next up was Gerard Deulofeu who, on his home debut, strolled deep into Chelsea territory and squirmed his left-footed effort, with the aid of Gary Cahill’s studs, into the bottom corner and out of Courtois’ reach. Roberto Pereyra joined the party moments later as he fired home impressively from the right side of the penalty area and took the roof off Vicarage Road.
Olivier Giroud could’ve grabbed one back deep into added time but he couldn’t stretch his long legs far enough to make a decent contact with the ball and that allowed Orestis Karnezis to block the shot. All the while, the Chelsea fans continued to show their support for their club, team and manager but time may be up for Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge. The club sold some of his key players and replaced them with faces he didn’t want or deem good enough but he’ll pay the price, they always do at Chelsea.
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