Watford were 1-0 victors over Swansea City thanks to an all-important goal from Étienne Capoue.

Watford took the lead through the Frenchman, scoring at the second opportunity after Alfie Mawson gave the ball away as the last man.

The result sees Swansea remain in the relegation zone, while Watford stay 10th.

Sloppy first half

After a scrappy opening exchange, the first chance fell to Gylfi Sigurdsson, Swansea’s captain for the day, who had two bites of the cherry, the second forcing a smart save from Heurelho Gomes.

Swansea came into the game desperate for three points, but Watford won’t be devoid of motivation despite starting the game in 10th, as manager Walter Mazzarri’s future seems up in the air he will want to achieve as many points as possible.

Swansea then almost broke the deadlock, after Gomes fumbled a Sigurdsson’s free kick leaving the goal gaping, Federico Fernandez met the ball with a header from a tight angle but his effort landed on top of the goal.

M'Baye Niang and Nordin Amrabat had chances from range that didn’t test Lukasz Fabianski, but the opening 20 minutes definitely belonged to Swansea.

Fabianski then rescued Swansea from going down 1-0, after Troy Deeney connected with Daryl Janmaat’s cross after some superb work down the right but the Polish goalkeeper was somehow able to tip the volley over the bar.

On the counter-attack, Luciano Narsingh was able to feed Ki Sung-Yeung who breezed past Janmaat but the ball got stuck under his feet and his eventual shot was easily saved.

Watford then took the lead through Capoue, after an uncharacteristic mistake in possession by Mawson. Capoue then advanced on goal and had his first effort well saved by Fabianski, but was able to slot home the rebound.

Swansea had their work cut out for them, having only come back to win from a losing position just once this season from 20 opportunities.

Swansea have now failed to keep a clean sheet in 16 consecutive Premier League away games this season, their last and only one coming on the first day of the season in a 1-0 win over Burnley.

Drab second half

The first chance of the second half fell to Sigurdsson, after a knock down from Fernando Llorente he shuffled the ball onto his left foot but his strike fell wide.

Janmaat then forced an awkward save out of Fabianski, after the right-back was able to walk up the pitch before striking from 20 yards but the goalkeeper was able to palm it away.

Watford were comfortably on top to start the second half, but were only reduced to efforts from range.

Swansea brought on record signing Borja Baston for Narsingh, and changed shape to a diamond system as they were left with no wingers on the pitch.

An odd system change, as Swansea’s only offensive plan since Paul Clement became boss has been to cross the ball to Llorente. Perhaps a sign of desperation.

After 20 minutes devoid of any real chances, Llorente sent a header wide from Kyle Naughton’s cross as Swansea started to push for an equaliser.

Substitute Stefano Okaka had the ball in the back of the net after a spectacular overhead kick, but the linesman did raise his flag for offside.

Swansea had the line share of possession going late into the game, but had very few chances to actually even up the scoreline.

The best chance of the second half fell in injury time, as Sigurdsson met Baston's cross with a header but his attempt went wide from six yards away.

Sigurdsson again tried to equalise as he broke through the midfield, but the defence was able to get back and block the shot before the final whistle blew.

The result sees Watford remain 10th, and Swansea stay 18th after a perhaps missed opportunity as Hull City lost to Stoke City this afternoon.