Watford were hoping to kick start a new era under a new coach; Claudio Ranieri but it ended in a defeat against a high flying Liverpool who still maintained their unbeaten record in the Premier League this season. Sadio Mane also joined the 100-goal Premier League club as he bagged his 100th Premier League goal after a wonderful ball from Mo'Salah who was already on his 103rd as at the time of the goal.
Ranieri must have known it would be a tough task against Liverpool and your first game doesn't get tougher than this. Despite his exploit with the title lifting Leicester City, you can expect this would be a tougher challenge for him because he came after the season had started for Watford.
Liverpool didn't ease up at all on Watford as they restricted them to no shot in the first half and denied them possession as well with Liverpool holding well over 80% of it. Firmino (hat-trick), Mane and Salah all did the damage against Watford.
Liverpool got off to a flying start as early as the 9th minute when Salah's brilliant outside the foot pass found Mane inside the box and he wasted no time in guiding the ball into the back of the net. This signalled the start of more goals to come as Firmino doubled the lead in the 37th minute after a brilliant effort from Milner on the left-hand side of the pitch found him and he had the easiest of tap-in.
Salah almost added to the scoreline with a curling effort just outside the box in the 49th minute but Ben Foster was up to the challenge and pushed it for a corner kick.
Liverpool extended their lead in the 52nd minute when a lovely ball was meant for Salah who was offside but Cathcart touched the ball as he directed it goal-ward. Foster saved it but Firmino was on hand to bundle the ball into the back of the net.
It became a nightmare for Watford again in the 54th minute as Mo' Salah produced a moment of genius as he dribbled his way through inside the box and left Cathcart for the dead before bending his effort into the back of the net to leave Foster rooted on the spot while admiring that moment of brilliance. It was Salah's 104th Premier League goal for Liverpool and he joined Didier Drogba on the list of top African players with the most goals in the Premier League. Liverpool were running riot with a resounding 4-0 lead already at half the hour mark.
Danny Rose denied Alexander Arnold a goal of his own as Arnold's shot was heading goal-ward before Rose blocked it off for a corner even though it was closer to being an own goal as well.
Mane shockingly missed adding to his tally on the afternoon in the 71st minute when Firmino found him with a lovely bending effort and Mane only had to tap the ball into the net but he didn't connect so well with the ball and he missed by just a small margin.
Watford had few flashes here and there but the closest they got after a direct shot on the goalkeeper was when Hernandez tried to produce a bending effort as earlier done by Salah but this time around his effort missed the target.
In the 84th minute, Sarr had a brilliant chance to at least get a goal back for his side but he was denied by the post instead even though Caoimhin Kelleher was close to covering his goalpost for Liverpool as well.
Watford impressed for the last 20 minutes of the game after Liverpool took their foot off the gas as you would have expected because they have a Champions League match against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday and being 4-0 up gives them that advantage.
Liverpool weren't done and in the 91st minute, Neco Williams expertly beat his marker with a deft touch on the side of the box and his brilliant ball in was poked home into the back of the empty net by Firmino to record his hat-trick in the game. What a resounding 5-0 win by Liverpool.
Thank you for your time.
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