It has been a first half of football to forget at Vicarage Road. There has barely been a chance of note which is why Watford are level at 0-0 with Norwich City at the interval.

There was one change to the Watford side which overcame Bolton Wanderers 4-3 last weekend. Captain Troy Deeney was resorted to the starting XI in place of Matej Vydra.

The two sides exchanged early half chances. Deeney harmlessly headed a Miguel Layun pass wide before Steven Whittaker fired over from 20 yards.

Goal-scoring opportunities were sparse throughout the opening period. Far too often Watford didn’t work the ball through midfield and resorted to hopeful passes forward which were cut out by the Canaries defence.

When the Hornets did play possession football it led to an opportunity for Deeney. He was played in-behind the visitors’ backline but could only fire wide from an acute angle.

Norwich offered little threat of their own going forward with the Hornets’ defence nullifying Cameron Jerome and Lewis Grabban.

With both teams cancelling each other out, it was little surprise the game was goalless at the interval.

Watford: Gomes; Cathcart, Ekstrand, Angella; Paredes, Watson, Abdi, Layun, Anya; Deeney, Ighalo.

Watford substitutes: Bond, Munari, Tozser, Forestieri, Pudil, Vydra, Hoban.

Norwich City: Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Olsson; Tettey, Howson, Johnson, Hoolahan; Jerome, Grabban.

Norwich City substitutes: Rudd, Cuellar, Hooper, Andreu, Garrido, Redmond, Dorrans.