Wolves ended their run of three successive defeats with a comfortable win over Watford, just as they had done in September, on a night when they equalled their biggest Premier League win to consolidate their place among the chasing pack, four points behind fifth place.
Rúben Neves’s sumptuous chip five minutes from time allowed Wolves to match their 4-0 win over Blackpool in 2011 on a night that Ben Foster will probably want to forget as Watford’s good run on the road came to an abrupt halt.
The former West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper, who celebrated Watford’s FA Cup semi-final win over these opponents three years ago with a tweet mentioning Wo1ve5 in memory of the Baggies’ 5-1 win at Molineux in Mick McCarthy’s final game here in 2012, was harangued all evening long by the Wolves fans and gave away the ball for Daniel Podence to make it 3-0 in the 21st minute.
Wolves had won 2-0 at Vicarage Road after losing their opening three games under Bruno Lage at the start of the season, going on to produce top-six form before a recent trio of setbacks prefaced this improved performance.
Raúl Jiménez opened the scoring before Cucho Hernández put past his own keeper but the goal of the night came late on when Neves, having taken one touch to steady himself on receiving Chiquinho’s header back, advanced into the penalty area as if he was going to blast his shot only to dink it over Foster’s head into the top corner. It was a sublime moment, the cherry on the icing, from a 24-year-old whom his manager believes can reach the top of his profession.
“I think he misses his chance of shooting when he came inside,” Lage said. “It’s so important for Rúben. He knows what I want from him, and what I want for his career. He should be the top of the top. So now the challenge is to come with another good performance against Everton. We’re training the way we play tonight. It’s not about the result, it’s about the way we play because I believe that gives us goals and points.”
Watford remain in the middle of the relegation zone, with one win in 17 games, three points off 17th-placed Everton having played three more games. Their record as defensive misers on the road since Roy Hodgson took over was in tatters inside the first quarter of the game as Wolves refound their attacking swagger.
Three goals in an eight-minute burst left Watford “staring down the barrel of a gun,” according to their manager, who blamed the goals on individual errors.
Jiménez, recalled to the starting lineup after missing the last two defeats, opened the scoring with a neat right-foot trap and left-foot finish after Hwang Hee-chan burst on to Podence’s touch into the left side of the penalty area to cross short and low to his strike partner.
Wolves looked much more dynamic with the Mexican striker back down the middle, and with Jonny, on his first start for a year, and Rayan Aït-Nouri advancing down the flanks at every opportunity. When Jonny cut back inside down the right wing and crossed left-footed to the opposite wing-back, Aït-Nouri’s pullback was diverted into his own goal by Hernández.
Watford had been seeking to equal their top-flight club record of three consecutive clean sheets away from home but their defensive confidence was clearly shattered. Foster, in particular, was getting brickbats from the home fans and when the former England goalkeeper, under pressure from Jiménez following a bobbling back pass, shanked his attempted clearance, Podence calmly collected the ball 25 yards out and lobbed it into the empty net. How the Wolves fans gloated. “Foster, Foster, what’s the score?” was one of their more polite enquiries.
The second half turned into something of a pantomime. Lage was quicker to respond to the South Bank’s calls for a wave than Foster who sent another miskick to Podence, this time 60 yards out. The Wolves’ No 10 still went for the lob from the centre circle, Foster back-pedalling in time to take the catch.
Hodgson agreed Foster had a poor game but did not castigate him. “He would be the first to put his hand up,” his manager at West Brom said. “He has been vitally important in every respect, with his performances and the way he is. As a keeper, you are a hero or a zero. He has been a hero a number of times, this was the other side of the coin. If you want to be anonymous, get yourself in midfield.”
