FT: Watford 2-1 West Brom
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Watford 2-1 West Brom
The match ends with Watford securing a 2-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion. Despite Albion's early dominance and scoring first, Watford came back strong in the second-half to clinch the win. Albion struggled to regain control after the initial breakthrough, leaving Watford to take home the points.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
Watford make a late substitution as Pierre Dwomoh replaces the impressive Imran Louza in the final moments of the match.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
The fourth official has announced a minimum of five minutes of added time. West Bromwich Albion have a few moments left to try and salvage something from the match.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
Watford make a strategic change as Moussa Sissoko comes on to replace Luca Kjerrumgaard. The experienced French international brings leadership as Watford look to hold onto their lead.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
West Bromwich Albion make two substitutions with Daryl Dike replacing Ousmane Diakite, and Charlie Taylor taking the place of Callum Styles. The Baggies are making final attempts to change the match's dynamics.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
Watford are exhibiting remarkable intensity and performance out of possession compared to their previous outing. They're winning individual duels all over the pitch, displaying noticeable improvement from Saturday's passive display against Sheffield United.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
Today’s match is being brought to you by Deepak Mahay with the help of AI tools which deliver generative summaries based on BBC radio coverage.
Our ambition is to use these tools to allow us to produce live pages for games that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to cover, such as today’s match. This trial will help us develop that technology.
All posts are being checked before publishing.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
Watford make a substitution as Edo Kayembe replaces Rocco Vata. Vata receives a standing ovation after scoring the second goal.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
West Bromwich Albion make two substitutions: Josh Maja comes on for Aune Heggebo, and Karlan Grant replaces Samuel Iling-Junior. Watford are preparing a substitution of their own with Edouard Kayembe set to come on.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
Watford's Jeremie Ngakia recovers well defensively to prevent Mikey Johnston from advancing. Moments later, Egil Selvik pulls off an important save to deny Isaac Price, keeping Watford ahead.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
Javi Gracia's tactical shift sees Watford press higher up the pitch, energised by their recent goal. They are displaying great determination to win the ball back, reminiscent of old successes under the coach.
Watford 2-1 West Brom
Rocco Vata capitalised on excellent build-up play by Watford. Marc Bola's determination down the left flank created the opportunity, as he beat George Campbell and delivered the cross that eventually fell to Vata, who made no mistake in converting it.
Rocco Vata
Rocco Vata scores for Watford with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box, putting them ahead against West Bromwich Albion.
Watford 1-1 West Brom
Alfie Gilchrist leaves the field for West Bromwich Albion due to an injury. George Campbell comes on to replace him, taking up the position at right back.
Watford 1-1 West Brom
Watford inches close as Luca Kjerrumgaard's header from the right side of the six-yard box narrowly misses the target, following Imran Louza's well-placed cross after a corner.
Watford 1-1 West Brom
Aune Heggebo of West Bromwich Albion is shown a yellow card for a studs-up challenge on Hector Kyprianou, catching his ankle and earning him a booking early in the second half.
Watford 1-1 West Brom
Vata attempts to break through the West Brom defence right after the second half begins, showing intent from Watford to take control early. However, his effort is thwarted.
Watford 1-1 West Brom
Watford make two substitutions at the start of the second half: Mamadou Doumbia replaces Nestory Irankunda and Tom Ince replaces Jeremy Petris.
Watford 1-1 West Brom
The match between Watford and West Bromwich Albion resumes for the second half. Both teams are looking to seize the advantage after an evenly contested first half that saw them level at 1-1.
Imran Louza's strike from outside the area quickly cancelled out Isaac Price's opener for West Bromwich Albion
Rocco Vata scored a second-half winner to gift-wrap a victory for Javi Gracia on his return to Watford against West Bromwich Albion.
Spaniard Gracia received a warm reception from the Vicarage Road faithful in his first home match since taking charge of the Hornets for a second time, before watching his side come from behind to beat the Baggies.
Isaac Price scored a beauty for the visitors, before the brilliant Imran Louza levelled with a stunning strike in the 38th minute.
The home side scored a second thanks to Vata's strike just before the hour.
A dull opening 30 minutes was livened up by a sprinkling of gold dust by both sides' liveliest first-half performers.
The Baggies were rewarded in the 34th minute with an impressive strike by Price. Mikey Johnston's left-wing pass was dummied by Aune Heggebo and, in doing so, it presented Price with the space and time to lash home a 25-yard right-footed shot into the top corner.
The visitors' advantage lasted just four minutes, as Louza collected possession and struck a beautiful looping shot over the head of Josh Griffiths into the top right-hand corner.
Louza was to dominate for the rest of the night as Watford emerged as the sharper team after the break, and the Hornets did not have long to wait for their second goal of the night.
The tenacious Marc Bola outpaced and outmuscled Albion substitute George Campbell, sending in a low cross from the left. Nat Phillips stumbled over the ball and the half-clearance fell for Vata, who drove the ball through a crowded box to hand Gracia's side the lead.
Price had a chance to restore parity for Albion just after the hour mark following good work by Alex Mowatt, but the Northern Ireland international's 63rd-minute header was saved by Egil Selvik, with Heggebo unable to convert the rebound.
That was as good as it got for Ryan Mason's visitors.
Striker Daryl Dike was thrown on for his first appearance of the season, but the visitors were unable to draw level, so Albion remain without a win at Vicarage Road since 2007.
Javi Gracia on Watford's victory over West Bromwich Albion
Watford boss Javi Gracia told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"I'm very pleased with the final result and with the way we did it. The team showed the real spirit that we need to play the games.
"We started losing but we were able to come back and, not only that, we continued trying to score the third one.
"Of course in the last minutes we had to defend the result, but that is the spirit I'm looking for.
"I'm really proud, not only with the players that played today, but the whole squad. All of them are working really well and we will need all of them for the rest of the season."
Ryan Mason on West Bromwich Albion's loss at Watford
Albion boss Ryan Mason told BBC Radio WM:
"We got ourselves in a really good position, scored a good goal and I thought we had a lot of control in the first half hour or so.
"The disappointing thing is to concede so quickly after scoring - that changes the feeling of the game. If we had got through to half-time, the feeling inside the stadium, and the feeling on the pitch, would have been different.
"In the second half, they had their best spell, were on the front foot, and for us it was about trying to get through that moment. It was important for us to get through that moment because - you see it all the time - teams have spells. It was unfortunate to lose Alfie (Gilchrist) to injury and to concede so quickly was tough for us.
"We created the best chance of the second half with Isaac Price's header and if that goes in, the momentum swings again and the feeling is better. It was disappointing for us to come away with nothing."
After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 8 | 23 | 25 |
| |
| 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 24 |
| |
| 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 20 |
| |
| 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 19 |
| |
| 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 18 |
| |
| 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 18 |
| |
| 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 18 |
| |
| 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 16 | -1 | 18 |
| |
| 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 17 |
| |
| 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 13 | -1 | 17 |
| |
| 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 16 |
| |
| 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 15 |
| |
| 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 14 | -3 | 15 |
| |
| 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 13 |
| |
| 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 16 | -1 | 13 |
| |
| 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 11 | -1 | 13 |
| |
| 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 13 |
| |
| 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 15 | -3 | 12 |
| |
| 11 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 16 | -4 | 11 |
| |
| 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 14 | -3 | 9 |
| |
| 11 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 17 | -10 | 9 |
| |
| 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 16 | -5 | 8 |
| |
| 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 16 | -8 | 7 |
| |
| 11 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 23 | -14 | 6 |
|
Manager: Javier Gracia
Formation: 4 - 4 - 2
Manager: Ryan Mason
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager: Javier Gracia
Formation: 4 - 4 - 2
Manager: Ryan Mason
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Championship
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Watford are unbeaten in seven home league games against West Brom (W4 D3) since a 3-0 reverse in November 2007.
West Brom’s only win in their last nine league games against Watford (D4 L4) was their most recent, winning 2-1 in April.
Watford have won both of their last two home league games, last winning more in a row in November 2024 (5).
West Brom have won three of their last five away league outings (L2), this after only winning one of 20 beforehand (D11 L8).
This will be Javi Gracia’s second league meeting with West Brom, winning the other 1-0 with Watford in the Premier League in March 2018.