Roy Hodgson’s last home game as Watford boss ended in a heavy defeat as Leicester ran out 5-1 winners at Vicarage Road on Sunday.
With incoming Watford head coach Rob Edwards in attendance, the already relegated Hornets made the perfect start as Joao Pedro capitalised on some poor Leicester defending to open the scoring.
However, that wasn’t the end of the defensive calamities as James Maddison and Jamie Vardy were the benefactors of some forgettable moments at the heart of the Watford defence as Leicester turned the game on its head with two goals in four minutes.
According to OptaJoe, aged 35 years and 124 days, Jamie Vardy has become the second-oldest player in Premier League history to score a brace in back-to-back appearances in the competition, behind only Youri Djorkaeff for Bolton in May 2004 – at 36 years and 60 days.
Also, the Kasper Schmeichel’s run of 149 consecutive starts in the Premier League is the sixth-longest ever in the competition. Danny Ward is the first keeper other than Schmeichel to start a league match for Leicester since Eldin Jakupovic in May 2018.
Leicester put the game to bed minutes into the second half through Harvey Barnes (46) before Vardy (70) and then Barnes (86) grabbed their second goals of the game to put the finishing touch on a superb afternoon for Brendan Rodgers’ side, who move into the top half into 10th.
Meanwhile, it was a disappointing final afternoon for Hodgson and his side at Vicarage Road. Defeat keeps them in 19th and they will look to avoid finishing bottom when they travel to Chelsea on the final day of the season.
With their relegation from the Premier League already confirmed, Watford started brightly, and they edged ahead inside six minutes.
Leicester made a mess of dealing with Ken Sema’s corner as the ball bounced off Youri Tielemans before Pedro’s low effort went in off Timothy Castagne.
The hosts were piling the pressure on Leicester and twice went close to doubling their advantage, including Adam Masina hitting the crossbar, but defensive errors allowed the visitors back into the game.
