EMMANUEL Dennis was one of the main villains for Watford on Friday night as they got pulled into the Premier League relegation zone.
The Nigeria international was sent off for the Hornets in their 3-0 defeat at home to Norwich City, who leapfrogged them in the table.
It was Dennis’ first red card since February 2019, long before his move to Watford.
Dennis and Watford have coincidentally struggled the last few weeks since the club, with his co-operation, held the player back from representing his country at the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
While Watford have not won any game since, Dennis has gone from losing form to getting injured and to Friday night’s red card.
He was sent off in the 78th minute after receiving a second yellow card, with scores at 2-0. Norwich added the third in added time to rub salt in Watford’s wounds.
Josh Sargent punished Watford with two second-half goals before Juraj Kucka completed the rout with an own goal.
Sargent set the tone for Norwich’s victory with a clever finish six minutes after the break.
He made it 2-0 with 16 minutes left on the clock via a header to silence the Vicarage Road crowd, not long after a long break to fix the malfunctioning floodlights.
Moments later, Dennis was given his marching orders as any hopes of a Watford fightback were extinguished.
Kucka then turned a low cross into his own net two minutes into a lengthy 15 minutes of added time, occasioned by the failing floodlights.
Apart from falling into the relegation places to replace Norwich in 18th spot, Watford also became only the fourth team in Premier League history to fail to keep a clean sheet in their opening 20 games of a season.
