Chelsea thrashed at Watford

Watford : Antonio Conte’s future as Chelsea boss was cast into further doubt as his 10 men were thrashed 4-1 by Watford on Monday night.

The Blues, who lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth last week, were poor again at Vicarage Road and had Tiemoue Bakayoko sent off inside half an hour.

Troy Deeney scored a penalty in the closing stages of the first half but Chelsea stayed in the contest and equalised through a magnificent Eden Hazard goal.

The visitors were not level for long, however, as Daryl Janmaat scored his own memorable effort to put Watford back in front before Gerard Deulofeu, man of the match on his home debut, and substitute Roberto Pereyra rounded off the win with breakaway goals to secure an emphatic win.

Conte had called on Chelsea’s hierarchy to “prepare a statement...to say they trust me in my work’’ ahead of the game but it was another dismal evening for the defending champions, who are now 19 points adrift of leaders Manchester City.

Michy Batshuayi and Diego Costa scored the goals in a 2-1 win for Chelsea here last season. That was the second game of a campaign which ended in Premier League glory for the Blues but, like those goalscorers last August, Chelsea’s hopes of retaining their crown are gone.

Either of those strikers would have had a chance of playing here as Conte once again deployed Hazard as Chelsea’s main attacking option with new signing Olivier Giroud warming the bench.

Deulofeu was lively in the early exchanges and sent a shot into Thibaut Courtois’ side-netting after being picked out inside the box.

Bakayoko was enduring another dismal display in a Chelsea shirt and was booked for bringing down Etienne Capoue inside the Chelsea half before Pedro hit a post on a rare Chelsea foray forward - only to see a free-kick given for handball against Victor Moses in the build-up. 

The challenge became harder for Conte and his players when Bakayoko’s evening came to an abrupt end as a second yellow card for a crude foul on Richarlison saw him dismissed by referee Mike Dean.