Chelsea vs Watford result: Loftus-Cheek, Luiz and Higuain score as Chelsea beat Watford
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Your support makes all the difference.Chelsea hosted Watford in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
The Blues have their Champions League chances firmly in their own hands after they battled to a deserved win over the Hornets at Stamford Bridge. A tepid first-half was put behind them in the second with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, David Luiz and Gonzalo Higuain all scoring to move Maurizio Sarri's side up to third above Tottenham and Arsenal in the race for the top four.
We'll have all the latest throughout the afternoon here.
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38 minutes
Alexandre Lacazette latches on in behind but can't get the ball under control quickly enough to surge away and shoot, and his support isn't there quickly enough to keep the threat alive.
Granit Xhaka then plays the ball straight out of play.
39 minutes
Mat Ryan again!
Quick to his left earlier and now quick to his right, down to turn Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's effort away.
42 minutes
Arsenal haven't looked as if they are going to cut the Brighton defence to ribbons at any point, but they are managing to get beyond the visiting side often enough.
Mesut Özil deliciously threads one through to Alexandre Lacazette, who takes and spins in one movement as if twirling to show off a new dress, Lewis Dunk not fooled by the sharp footwork and toeing the ball from the Frenchman''s position.
45 minutes
Firm from Henrikh Mkhitaryan with the shot, firm from Mathew Ryan gain with the save, beating the effort away, not foxed by the swerve of the crisply-hit ball.
Into stoppage time. Two added minutes.
45 + 2 minutes
A booking for Pascal Gross, remarkably a first of the season for the midfielder, as he holds back Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
That'll be that...
Just the one goal in the half, then, and a somewhat controversial one at that. It looked a penalty live, and the first couple of replays seemed to support Anthony Taylor's decision, but more angles were found and the contact between Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Nacho Monreal looked minimal at best. Taylor could not have been better positioned, but Brighton fans will certainly argue it was a harsh one.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang never looked like missing from twelve yards, going past the twenty goal mark in the Premier League mark in an excellent sophomore season.
And the rest of the half was a bright enough affair, both teams looking capable of threatening, Arsenal's extra quality in the final third apparent as they created the clearer chances.
Mat Ryan made two or three outstanding saves to keep Brighton in touch, but Arsenal will be confident of scoring at least one more and Chris Hughton's side have had such trouble finding the net during the second half of the season that you'd think a second for the hosts would seal it.
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