Gerard Deulofeu can propel Watford to Europe for the first time in 35 years
Watford ran riot at the Cardiff City Stadium in Wales as Gerard Deulofeu’s hat-trick and Troy Deeney’s brace helped the Hornets register a thumping 5-1 victory over Neil Warnock’s side on Friday night. The win has put Watford in 7th place.
Along with the likes of Wolves, Bournemouth and West Ham, Watford have been one of the most impressive sides outside the top six in the Premier League this season and they have a realistic chance of finishing in the final Europa League qualification spot. The 5-1 victory in Wales, which was Watford’s third in their last five Premier League outings, has kept them in the race to finish the season as the ‘best of the rest’.
And the man behind the 5-1 triumph, Gerard Deulofeu, can play an important role in the dying stages of the campaign. The former Barcelona man started off slowly after missing the first few games of the season due to an injury but his upturn of form has come at just the right time of the season for the Hornets.
Roberto Pereyra and Jose Holebas starred in the opening stages of the season to ensure that the Hornets got off to a flying start. However, Pereyra has lost form at a crucial stage in the season and the Argentine is yet to pick up a goal or an assist since scoring with a wonderful volley against Chelsea on Boxing Day.
Well, it would be fair to say that Deulofeu has put his hand up at the best possible time. While Pereyra had another lacklustre outing against Cardiff, Deulofeu and Troy Deeney, who also needed to get some goals, rose to the occasion and delivered the goods.
There’s never been any doubt whatsoever regarding Deulofeu’s talent and the vast potential that the Spaniard has. 6 goals and 4 assists from 20 appearances can be deemed as decent enough returns and the hat-trick this week might just turn out to be the push that he needed to take his game to greater heights.
On what was an absolutely unforgettable night for the Spaniard at the Cardiff City Stadium, Deulofeu proved that he can be a world-class player when he gets it right. The 24-year-old opened the scoring with a wonderful low right-footed drive in the first half before a double within a couple of minutes past the hour mark sealed the game for the Hornets.
The Spaniard tricked Bruno Manga and rounded goalkeeper Neil Etheridge to put the finishing touches to what was a lung-busting solo run on the counter. Just a couple of minutes later, Deulofeu showed good awareness to run in behind Cardiff’s backline, used his pace to latch onto Etienne Capoue’s perfectly-weighted pass and left Etheridge for dead with a delightful dinked finish that would even make Cristiano Ronaldo proud.
However, he wasn’t done for the night even after claiming his hat-trick, with the Spaniard creating Troy Deeney’s first and Watford’s fourth with a wonderful layoff. Deulofeu once again outfoxed the Cardiff backline with his subtle movement and used his pace to set up a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper before using his sharpness and elegance to lay the ball on a platter for the Watford skipper.
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Watford have shown obvious progress under Javi Gracia this season and a Europa League qualification spot is definitely on the horizon for the Hornets. Hence, if things continue to go in the right direction for Gerard Deulofeu, the Spaniard has all that it takes to propel Watford to Europe for the first time in 35 years, with the 1983-84 UEFA Cup marking their first and the only appearance in Europe till date.
