Premier League Rounds 21 and 22: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Bad
Watford
Remember a while back when I wrote about Watford jumping into the fight for a top four position? They were still looked at as outsiders, but they had earned enough points to be within shouting distance of a Champions League place.
I wrote then that Watford’s next five matches would be a good indication of how far they have come. If they handled this stretch well then they could be considered a legitimate part of the fight for European places.
Well, it did not go well. At all. Watford are in a horrendous run of form right now and it coincides with a scoring drought from Odion Ighalo as well.
After Watford lost to Manchester United on November 21 they then went on a four match winning streak against Aston Villa, Norwich City, Sunderland and Liverpool.
Their next five matches were against Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Southampton and Swansea City.
Here is how it went for Watford.
Chelsea 2-2 Watford
Watford 1-2 Tottenham
Watford 1-2 Manchester City
Southampton 2-0 Watford
Swansea City 1-0 Watford
They even lost the layup fixture at the end of the five match run. That is an absolute killer. This run of results has coincided with a dip in form from Ighalo.
FULL-TIME Swansea 1-0 Watford. A rare Ashley Williams goal lifts the Swans out of the #BPL bottom three #SWAWAT pic.twitter.com/FFlUOIzSRD
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 18, 2016
Throughout the season I’ve touched on Watford’s reliance on Ighalo to score and contribute to their goals. As the well has gone dry so have the results for Watford.
Here is how Ighalo has performed in their last five Premier League fixtures, according to whoscored.com:
Chelsea 2-2 Watford: 6.61 match rating, 0 goals and 0 assists.
Watford 1-2 Tottenham: 6.93 match rating, 1 goal.
Watford 1-2 Manchester City: 6.43 match rating, 0 goals and 0 assists.
Southampton 2-0 Watford: 5.76 match rating, 0 goals and 0 assists.
Swansea City 1-0 Watford: 5.97 match rating, 0 goals and 0 assists.
Quique Sanchez Flores claims he is not worried about the Hornet's losing streak despite suffering a 1-0 defeat... https://t.co/s56ICoc3Wt
— Milanista Rossoneri (@Milanista_92) January 19, 2016
That is a wretched run of performances from Watford’s most important player. Even the match during which he scored a goal did not result in a 7.0 match rating or better.
If Watford are to dig themselves out of this rut then Ighalo must find his form again.
Next: The Ugly