Watford 0-1 Arsenal: Gunners go fourth after beating 10-man Watford

Arsenal took a big leap towards securing a top-four berth after a nervy win at FA Cup finalists Watford.

The Gunners scored the only goal of the game on 10 minutes through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who blocked Ben Foster’s attempted clearance.

Just a minute later Watford were reduced to 10 men when captain Troy Deeney was shown a straight red card for an elbow on Lucas Torreira.

Deeney has been shown a straight red for an elbow into the face of Torreira. As Alan Smith says on commentary: “It’s a silly challenge.”

• Watford 0-1 Arsenal
• Aubameyang scores after Foster blunder (10)
• Deeney shown red for elbow (11)
• Six Arsenal changes
• Ozil, Lacazette on bench
• Foster, Janmaat, Kabasele, Masina start

 

POST-MATCH STATS

• Watford suffered their first defeat in six Premier League home games (W3 D2).
• Arsenal kept their first away clean sheet in the Premier League this season at the 16th time of asking.
• None of the last 12 Premier League meetings between Watford and Arsenal have ended in a draw (10 wins for Arsenal, two for Watford); only two fixtures in the competiton have been played more often without ever sharing the spoils (Manchester United v Wigan (16), Aston Villa v Derby (14).
• Since returning to the Premier League in 2015/16, Watford have picked up 15 red cards in the competition, more than any other side.

 

ARSENAL TEAM

Team to play Watford: Leno, Koscielny, Mavropanos, Mustafi, Monreal, Ramsey, Torreira, Xhaka, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang

Subs: Cech, Elneny, Lacazette, Ozil, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Kolasinac

WATFORD TEAM

Team to play Arsenal: Foster, Janmaat, Cathcart, Kabasele, Masina, Doucoure, Capoue, Femenia, Hughes, Gray, Deeney

Subs: Gomes, Britos, Mariappa, Success, Sema, Chalobah, Navarro

 

 

PRE-MATCH STATS

• Arsenal have not lost back-to-back away league games at Watford since a run of three straight defeats ending in November 1987.
• None of the 11 previous Premier League meetings between Watford and Arsenal have ended in a draw (nine wins for Arsenal, two for Watford);
• Watford have only won two of their 15 Premier League games when playing on a Monday (D5 L8); a 4-2 win over Portsmouth in April 2007 and a 4-1 victory against Chelsea in February 2018.