Report: Watford 2 United 0

Despite dominating possession throughout the 90 minutes, the Reds were up against a resolute Hornets side who struck twice early on in the second half. Ismaila Sarr’s effort and Troy Deeney’s penalty were enough to give Nigel Pearson’s team the points on his home debut as manager.

United’s first chance of the afternoon came in the sixth minute as Anthony Martial hit a low effort narrowly wide of Ben Foster’s right-hand post. The Frenchman’s strike from just inside the area came after receiving a return pass from Daniel James following his own delightful flick out wide to the rapidly advancing winger.

The Hornets had the ball in the back of the net on 19 minutes, again having won a corner, but…