Watford vs Man City LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction
Follow all the latest updates as the champions visit Vicarage Road
A potentially pivotal day in the title race, which began in east London before late drama at Wolverhampton, ended with Manchester City fans singing “We are top of the league” into the cold evening air at Vicarage Road. Chelsea’s defeat at West Ham opened the door and City swaggered through with a dominant 3-1 win over Watford, most notable for the joyful brilliance of Bernardo Silva.
If Mohamed Salah is the early frontrunner for the Premier League’s player of the season, Bernardo is his nearest rival making a concerted charge. The Portuguese scored two sublime goals here, the first exhibiting his delicate touch in tight spaces, the second showing off the accuracy of his unerring left foot. City rarely rely on the gift of a single star but sometimes one comes to the fore – think of Kevin De Bruyne in 19/20, or Ilkay Gundogan last season – and this feels unequivocally like the year of Bernardo.
Follow all the latest rection below to Man City’s win at Watford.
West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
52 mins: There are some groans from the West Ham fans as the Hammers sit off Chelsea with Mendy in possession. The goalkeeper then hits it long to Lukaku, who draws the foul from Diop as he tried to hold the ball up.
Rice then makes a break forward but James does well to sprint back and regain possession.
West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
50 mins: West Ham break forward as Antonio slides it forward to Bowen. Loftus-Cheek gets back well to slide in - but Bowen had gone too early and was offside.
West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
49 mins: Ziyech’s corner from the left is allowed to drop in the six yard box and it deflects off Diop and goes behind - but that could have gone anywhere.
West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
47 mins: West Ham look like they will try to push higher up the pitch than they did in the first half, and that forces an early error from Christensen.
KICK-OFF! West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
Back underway at the London Stadium - and there’s a big half-time change for Chelsea as Romelu Lukaku comes on for Kai Havertz, who was injured shortly before the break.
West Ham have also been forced into a chance with Arthur Masuaku replacing Ben Johnson.
Half-time: West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
Chelsea are 45 minutes away from another big win on the road in the Premier League. West Ham need to improve and will surely be a bit more aggressive in the second half. Their 5-2-3 system hasn’t worked too well against Chelsea so far and the visitors have still enjoyed plenty of the ball in promising positions out wide.
HALF TIME! West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
An entertaining end to the first half at the London Stadium, that, as Premier League leaders Chelsea head into the break in front. Thiago Silva’s downward header from Mason Mount’s corner gave Chelsea the lead following some poor marking from the hosts, but West Ham were given the chance to equalise when Jarrod Bowen pounced on Jorginho’s back-pass and Edouard Mendy brought down the forward with a sliding challenge. Manuel Lanzini converted from the spot but Chelsea quickly retook the lead thanks to a stunning piece of technique from Mount, who beat Lukasz Fabianski with a first-time volley from the angle shortly before the break.
West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
45+1 mins: Chelsea looked like they had a slight opening on the stroke of half-time as Havertz tried to race around the outside of Zouma into the box. The angle closes on Havertz as Zouma slides in. Both players stay down - and Havertz looks like he’s in pain from the challenge.
GOAL! West Ham 1-2 Chelsea (MOUNT 44’)
WHAT A FINISH! Out of nowhere, Chelsea retake the lead! Loftus-Cheek wins the ball back as he challenges Soucek in midfield. He pings it wide to Ziyech who has time to bring it down and drift inside. It looked like the pace of Chelsea’s attack had gone, as Ziyech flighted a ball over to Mount at the back post but the England international connected with the full volley to spectacularly find the bottom corner of Fabianski’s near post. Such impressive control.
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