Odion Ighalo fires Watford into the top half of the Premier League table with a brace against West Ham United

Goals either side of half-time from the Nigerian were enough to secure an impressive 2-0 win over Slaven Bilic's high flyers at Vicarage Road.

Inside the opening ten minutes, the home side spurned a glorious chance to take the lead. Full-back Nathan Ake rose highest in the centre of the penalty area to head a Ben Watson corner kick goalward; however, Adrian was able react well to deny the loanee his maiden Premier League goal. Troy Deeney subsequently latched onto the rebound, but his volleyed effort on goal was blocked by Andy Carroll inside the six-yard box. 

Watford largely dominated the opening exchanges, with Ikechi Anya and Etienne Capoue in particular, causing West Ham a number of problems. On the half hour mark, a chipped ball over the top of the Hammers’ defence from Capoue was latched onto by Anya on the right hand side of the penalty area. The Scottish international out-muscled James Tomkins, before seeing his side-footed effort on goal well saved by Adrian in the West Ham goal. 

Watford take first half lead

The Hornets deservedly opened the scoring ten minutes later. After Carroll failed to clear a Watson free kick, the West Ham forward was dispossessed on the left of the penalty area by Ake, who subsequently drilled the ball across goal to Odion Ighalo. The forward slid in to grab his sixth goal of the 2015/16 season and give Watford a deserved 1-0 lead going into the half-time interval.

Despite seeing off Chelsea at Upton Park last week, Slaven Bilic’s men struggled to find a route into the final third throughout the opening 45 minutes. In order to add some much needed offensive potency, Bilic opted to replace Manuel Lanzini and Victor Moses with Enner Valencia and Mauro Zarate at half-time.

Ighalo doubles Watford's lead

In the second minute of the second half, Ighalo doubled Watford’s lead. Another defensive error proved costly for the visitors, as James Tomkins’ failure to clear Troy Deeney’s low cross from the left flank, allowed Ighalo to steal in on edge of the penalty and rifle home his second goal of the game in emphatic fashion. 

Moments later, Watford came close to making their lead unassailable through Ighalo. The Nigerian forward, after being played through on goal by Almen Abdi, was denied his hat-trick by Adrien, who did well to palm Ighalo’s low effort across goal clear of danger. 

West Ham were almost gifted a route back into the game by Craig Cathcart. The Northern Ireland international’s blind back pass to Heurelho Gomes was cut out inside of the penalty area by substitute, Enner Valencia. Cathcart’s blushes were spared however, as the West Ham forward’s subsequent first time effort on goal cannoned off the foot of the right post. 

Collins sees red

The visitors’ hopes of staging a comeback were dashed when a horrific challenge by James Collins was deemed worthy of a straight red. Collins’ cynical swipe of Ighalo’s legs in the centre circle was correctly greeted with a red card by referee, Keith Stroud, in the dying embers of the game as West Ham’s frustration at Vicarage Road became evident. 

The win sees Watford move up to ninth in the Premier League table; while West Ham drop to fifth. 

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About the author
Jack  Gallagher
Member of the VAVEL writing team since June 2012, and became editor-in-chief of the UK edition in June 2013. English and History at QUB.