Watford End Liverpool's Unbeaten Run With Thumping Vicarage Road Win - 2019/20 Season Highlights
By Lee Bushe
Before visiting Watford, Liverpool were enjoying the best run in their history. In addition to being unbeaten for 44 league matches - a run which extended all the way back to January 2019 - the Reds had also just equalled Manchester City's record for the most consecutive league wins. So it was expected that, for when they visited the Hornets in February 2020, they would beat City's record.
Indeed, Jurgen Klopp's side had little reason to not believe that their trip to Hertfordshire would be business as usual. Liverpool had won 26 out of their 27 league games and were top of the Premier League by a margin of 22 points.
Watford, on the other hand, had been struggling for much of the season and, despite having initially experienced a 'new manager bounce' under Nigel Pearson following his appointment in December, they had failed to win any of their last five league games prior to Liverpool's visit.
Both Klopp and Pearson fielded full-strengths line-ups. Liverpool had their deadly front three - Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane - up top, who had scored 36 goals between them, as well as Alisson in goal and the rock solid Virgil van Dijk in defence.
The entirety of Watford's squad, on the other hand, had scored just 24 goals between them and their top scorer, Hornets legend Troy Deeney, had a measly five goals to his name.
Surprisingly, Watford were dominant throughout the first-half. Gerard Deulofeu came relatively close to scoring twice in the opening ten minutes, while Ismaila Sarr and Abdoulaye Doucoure also had decent chances. The best chance of the half, however, came five minutes into stoppage time. Alisson stopped a Will Hughes header from flying past him, before flailing himself in front of Deeney to stop his follow-up effort.
Whatever Klopp said to his Liverpool side during the break clearly didn't work - for once - as Watford continued their dominance in the second half. The Hornets took a thoroughly deserved lead through a Sarr strike in the 54th minute, sending Vicarage Road wild. Then, Sarr added his - and Watford's - second just six minutes later.
A spectacular solo goal, the Senegalese winger sprinted past Van Dijk and Dejan Lovren, before chipping the ball over Alisson to leave Liverpool with a mountain to climb.
The humiliation was completed in the 72nd minute when Sarr collected the ball ahead of an onrushing Alisson, spun and played a short simple pass to Deeney, who accurately fired home from an acute angle into Liverpool's gaping goal.
The Hornets would comfortably see out the final 20 minutes or so, Vicarage Road erupting into full voice at the final whistle. Not only had the home side shattered Liverpool's hopes of going unbeaten, they had blown the Champions League holders away with a breathtaking performance.
It was a moment of pure joy in what had until then been a pretty miserable season for Watford. It remains to be seen whether Pearson's side will still be in the Premier League next season, but their supporters now have a fond memory that they'll reminisce about for years to come.