MY ACCOUNT
Leeds extended their gap over the relegation zone to nine points with a convincing 3-0 win over Watford at Vicarage Road.
The visitors went in front after 21 minutes as the Hornets made a mess of clearing their lines, allowing Dan James to find Raphinha on the edge of the box, who unleashed a ferocious strike past Ben Foster.
Watford gifted Leeds a second in the 73rd minute as a loose touch from Samir allowed Rodrigo to make it 2-0.
Jesse Marsch’s men grabbed their third soon after as Jack Harrison lashed a superb left-footed strike across goal and in from just inside the box to seal the victory.
Leeds manager Marsch lauded the mentality of his men following the comfortable scoreline.
He said: “It’s a massive three points when you look at the table.
“I’ve been very positive with them and I’ve seen a group that’s willing and wants to fight for everything and wants to learn and grow every day. It’s been a pleasure to be their coach.
“They are hungry for more, they are obviously hungry to stay in the league but they are hungry to try to develop and get better and be the best they can be. I really like being here, it’s been a lot of fun but we still have more work to do.
“It’s been almost like a pre-season — it’s been six weeks that we’ve been together and every day we’re talking about some new topics and trying to fine-tune a lot of the principles that we want to put in place.
“But it’s not a pre-season, it’s a relegation fight, so I’ve been drawing on the mentality of the group a lot — they are fantastic in that way. We have a lot of good leaders in the group and they work their butts off. It’s a pleasure to work with them every day and we’ve got to keep going.”
Watford head coach Roy Hodgson, however, felt the scoreline did not reflect the nature of the game.
He said: “We had a chance to get back into the game but then, unfortunately, we conceded the second goal and it was always going to be very difficult after that because, obviously, we became more open.
“I find the scoreline harsh — I don’t think we deserved to lose this game 3-0 on the team’s performance today but we have lost it 3-0 so that’s what I have to come to terms with.
“We had a really, really good chance to equalise that we unfortunately didn’t take and, as often happens in a game, especially when you are at the bottom of the league, the second goal comes from a fairly bland situation.
“I don’t think the challenge has altered enormously — that’s a few more points that we could have had that we haven’t taken but there are seven games left, four of them at home, and the players have got to a find way of putting this game behind them.
“They haven’t lost by playing particularly badly, they’ve lost because the other team took their chances and now we have to get back in the right frame of mind for Brentford.”
Did you know?
Watford are the first side to lose nine consecutive home matches in the Premier League since Wolves did so in 2012.
The Hornets have also lost 12 home league matches in a single season for the first time in their history.
Leeds are the only Premier League team who have not lost a single game against a promoted side since the start of last season.
Leeds averaged 0.9 points per game under Marcelo Bielsa this season (23 from 26 games), but are averaging 1.7 points per game under Marsch (10 from six games).
Watford have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last 20 home matches in the Premier League, the longest such run in the top-flight since a 20-game stretch for Blackpool between 1971 and 2011.
Raphinha scored his 10th league goal of the season and scored the opening goal in a game for the seventh time this campaign, the most of any player in the Premier League.
