Pearson watches on as Watford are held at home by Crystal Palace

Posted Sunday, December 08, 2019 by PA

New Watford manager Nigel Pearson watched his team for the first time from the stands and saw them struggle in front of goal after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace.

Interim boss Hayden Mullins took charge for the last time at Vicarage Road and, despite plenty of possession, clear-cut chances were limited for the Premier League’s bottom club.

It meant for the ninth time in 16 top flight matches this season, the Hornets failed to find the net, but Eagles manager Roy Hodgson would have been content with the point, with injuries badly affecting his team.

Watford, under the watchful eye of Pearson, made a bright start and forced a corner inside two minutes.

The Hornets enjoyed plenty of possession early on, but provided an example of why they are bottom in the ninth minute when they switched off and Palace almost went ahead.

Andros Townsend’s cross deflected into James McArthur’s path and, despite being in space, the former Scotland international volleyed wide when he should have done better.

Ismaila Sarr had been a real positive for the hosts and he saw an effort deflect past the post two minutes later before he delivered a dangerous cross into the area.

Palace were able to survive and despite Watford winning a couple of free kicks in dangerous positions, Hodgson’s men defended strongly to ensure it was goalless after half an hour.

Tempers began to boil over as the first 45 came to a close with referee Martin Atkinson booking Abdoulaye Doucoure, Wilfried Zaha and Craig Cathcart in quick succession.

No goals were forthcoming before the break though and it was a case of whether either side could produce the required quality to open the scoring in the second period.

Hodgson made a change and a surprise one during the interval, with Jairo Riedewald making his first appearance in the league since April 2018 when he replaced Jeffrey Schlupp.

It was the Hornets who again looked the most likely to make the breakthrough and Gerard Deulofeu curled wide from 25-yards in the 53rd minute.

Crucially Vicente Guaita was largely untroubled in the Palace goal aside from demonstrating his impeccable handling from several teasing Watford crosses.

Both Hodgson and opposite number Mullins sensed there was the potential to turn one point into three and Christian Benteke and Andre Gray were brought on, which acted as a catalyst for chances to finally occur.

In the space of four minutes, Jordan Ayew drilled over before Sarr headed off target and Gary Cahill then denied the Watford attacker with a superb tackle inside the area.

Guaita had to be alert to deny Gray and Sarr after the 90 minutes were up, but it ended goalless which is no surprise given these two are the two lowest scorers in the division.