January 22, (THEWILL) – Norwich City climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone for the first time this season after a 3-0 victory over Watford at Vicarage Road.
While the outcome keeps the Canaries out of the bottom three, it also saw the Hornets drop there, as Josh Sargent’s brace made the difference, and a late own goal rounded out the score to put manager Claudio Ranieri under further pressure.
Watford dominated the first half and should have gone into the break with a lead when Moussa Sissoko failed to make good touch with the ball right in front of goal, missing the target.
Sargent scored his contender for goal of the season just a few minutes into the second half, making the Hornets lament not converting their domination into a goal.
Teemu Pukki, who had been denied service in the first half, outmuscled the otherwise impressive Samir to deliver the ball to Sargent, who converted a weak cross with a scorpion-esque flip. The VAR reviewed the play for a possible foul by Pukki, but the goal was upheld.
With a small floodlight failure — the pitch was still well lighted despite – caused some uncertainty, the game was delayed for more than 10 minutes midway through the second half.
Norwich were unfazed by the delay, and Sargent quickly scored his second Premier League goal after waiting all season for his first. Milot Rashica sent in a deep cross to the far post, and the American rose highest to head the ball into the bottom corner.
As the game entered 15 minutes of stoppage time, Sissoko had the ball in the net for Watford, but an offside flag negated a superb volleyed finish.
Watford’s woes were compounded moments later when substitute Juraj Kucka turned Adam Idah’s low cross into his own net.
Pierre Lees-Melou had cleared off the line earlier to maintain Norwich’s lead, but Joao Pedro and Cucho Hernandez both came close to bringing one back with late long-range efforts.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
