4️⃣ points as Watford beat Liverpool to end 27-match unbeaten run | OneFootball

Liverpool lost for the first time in the Premier League this season as Nigel Pearson’s brilliant Watford side totally dismantled the would-be champions.

A double from Ismaïla Sarr and one from Troy Deeney gave the Hornets a 3-0 win and left the Reds just 22 points clear at the top of the table.

A blueprint to follow

And with that, the dream is over. Arsène Wenger, you can breath a sigh of relief.

After 28 matches, Liverpool have finally been beaten in the Premier League and you have to say it was totally deserved.

We’ve been saying for a while now that the table-toppers have looked lethargic and seemed there for the taking. Atlético Madrid proved that in the Champions League and now Watford have done the same domestically.

The Hornets were far and away the better team here, totally dominating in midfield, pressing brilliantly all over the pitch and cutting the supply to Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.

It was a blueprint for how to beat Liverpool and you have to doff your cap to Nigel Pearson.

Of course, one bad result can’t take the varnish off this stunning season for the would-be champions – but there will be no Invincibles this season.

Get well soon

Things looked bad almost immediately for Gerard Deulofeu and just one glance at a replay afterwards was all we needed to confirm that the Spaniard is going to be missing for a while.

A coming together with Virgil van Dijk saw the Watford striker go over on his right knee, left him prone on the ground and almost certainly ended his season.

Should that be the case it would be a terrible blow for Watford’s survival chances, with Deulofeu actually looking like the game’s most potent attacking threat in the opening half an hour.

With four goals and five assists to his name so far this season, the 25-year-old has become an integral part of Nigel Pearson’s starting XI since his appointment and will be a huge miss for the final few months of the campaign.

In the bin

Jürgen Klopp will be hoping that Joe Gomez’s injury isn’t anything too serious, because on this evidence Dejan Lovren is not going to be an adequate replacement.

The Croatia international infamously said after the 2018 World Cup that he was “one of the best defenders in the world” but that assessment seems laughable now when you consider just how appalling he was here at Vicarage Road.

Ponderous in possession, bullied by Troy Deeney, woefully out of position on numerous occasions and running like he had lead in his boots.

The centre-back looked every second of his 30 years and will almost certainly be warming the bench between now and the end of the season.

What a pair

A quick word also for Watford’s goalscorers – Troy Deeney and Ismaïla Sarr.

The former a burly, old school centre-forward who gave Virgil van Dijk and Lovren the toughest game of their season so far.

The latter a rapid-paced youngster who looks destined for genuine stardom.

Both, in their own way, utterly superb.