Watford have their first point of the season on the board after they held out for almost 20 minutes with ten men to secure a 1-1 opening-day draw at Southampton.

Walter Mazzarri’s men were forced to settle for what they had after substitute Ben Watson had been sent off for pulling back Shane Long. Prior to that incident though, the game was nicely poised after Nathan Redmond had cancelled out Etienne Capoue’s first-half opener.

The Hornets had their moments in the second period but it was during the opening 45 minutes when they caught the eye for longer periods, having taken the lead when the French midfielder scored his first Premier League goal for the club to finish off a well-worked move.

Although the visitors couldn’t find that bit of quality to test Fraser Forster again, the understanding of the new 3-5-2 system was good, there was some attractive interplay between the central midfield trio while Nordin Amrabat more than justified his inclusion at right wing-back.

It was to be an afternoon of frustration though, for Troy Deeney and a subdued Odion Ighalo. Neither had an effort of note and lacked the service to make a strong impact on proceedings in the opposition penalty area after the skipper had played a pivotal role in his side’s goal.

The Hornets’ new head coach made a couple of significant, and particularly interesting, selection decisions for his first Premier League game in charge of the Hornets.

Amrabat, and not Ikechi Anya, was given the nod to start at right wing-back and likewise the Watford boss opted for Valon Behrami and not Watson in the midfield engine room.

Mazzarri also had attacking options on the bench in Matej Vydra and Jerome Sinclair but was denied the potential services of the injured Isaac Success and Brice Dja Djedje while Abdoulaye Doucoure missed out with a suspension carried over from his loan spell at Granada.

Like their opponents, Southampton had also undergone a summer of transition after Claude Puel succeeded Ronald Koeman and the likes of Sadio Mane and Victor Wanyama also departed St Mary's.

Despite the upheaval, Saints had enjoyed a strong pre-season results-wise and the new boss made only one change to the XI that started their final friendly win against Athletic Bilbao with James Ward-Prowse preferred to new arrival Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in midfield.

Watford found themselves under the cosh from the outset after Capoue caught Ward-Prowse in the head with a high boot on the right side of the pitch around 30 yards from his goal. Dusan Tadic, who was to be the home side’s most influential player, went for a goal with a whipped in left-footed free-kick which Heurelho Gomes had to plunge to his right to keep out and the Hornets keeper then showed superb reactions to prevent Miguel Britos inadvertently turning the rebound into his own net.

After that early escape, the Hornets began to settle down and tried to be progressive but without asking too many questions of the Saints defence in the opening stages.

Cedic had the next attempt with a long-range effort which Gomes, but in the ninth minute the Hornets’ season lifted off – and it was a really well-worked opening goal to make the breakthrough.

A patient build-up through the middle saw the ball worked to the right where Amrabat crossed deep to the back post, Deeney showed great awareness to nod the ball down into space and all it needed was someone to attack it. And Capoue did exactly that, showing the desire to beat his man to the ball before hitting a rasping finish past Forster to finally score his first Premier League goal for the Hornets.

Apart from an Amrabat shot wide from distance, the visitors didn’t create much in the next ten minutes but they were playing with confidence, with the central midfield trio combining to very neat effect at times. By contrast, their opponents were looking a little short of ideas as the midway point of the opening half and apart from a Ward-Prowse effort wide from distance, Gomes had little to concern himself with.

That could have changed in the 32nd minute when Tadic showed great footwork on the right side of the penalty area to retain possession under pressure and create the space for a cross which he struck to the far post but Long was unable to direct his header on target.

There was also a concerning moment for Gomes soon after when he needed treatment on his right hamstring. This was administered but Watford’s reigning Player of the Season continued to look uncomfortable for a few minutes as Costel Pantilimon warmed up.

Southampton continued to build the pressure as the opening half came to a close and there was a worrying moment when Ward-Prowse burst to the byline on the right side of the 18-yard box and cut the ball across, but Amrabat held his ground in front of Redmond to clear. Soon after, the former Norwich City player dragged a shot wide from the edge of the area.

Gomes had to drop to his right to push away the latest long-range Saints effort, this time from Credic, as the game entered four minutes of stoppage time, but prior to that Craig Cathcart and Sebastian Prodl, in particular, had shown all their defensive qualitied to repel a raid from the home side down their right.

Unsurprisingly, the home side were quickly out of the blocks after the restart and Gomes had to push away a corner after a Ward-Prowse shot had deflected behind off Britos.

Watford soon settled back into the contest though, and they had a couple of promising moments when no-one was able to get on the end of a good Amrabat delivery across the six-yard box, before Jose Holebas opted to go for a powerful cross when well positioned on the left but overhit it.

Puel decided a change was needed in the 54th minute as Hojbjerg replaced Ward-Prowse, but a minute later Gomes made another good save to touch behind a Redmond shot across goal after the Saints had broken when a promising Watford situation came to nothing.

The corner that followed led to another and from this the home side were to pull level.

Gomes got above three players to try and punch away a deep delivery from the left but he failed to get sufficient distance on his attempted clearance and Redmond stepped back into space to strike the dropping ball left-footed past the stranded keeper to make it 1-1.

Guedioura then picked up the first booking of the afternoon for a foul on Steven Davis and from the resulting free-kick, Virgil Van Dijk sent a looping header onto the roof of Gomes’ net.

Mazzarri’s first change came in the 64th minute with Watson replacing Behrami but soon after Watford had another opportunity when Guedioura initially did well to get away from an opponent to find Capoue. He then produced a lovely turn to take Oriol Romeu out of the game and open up the pitch in front of him, but with options left and right the Frenchman opted to go it alone, only to slice his shot wildly wide from the edge of the 18-yard box.

Another opportunity came and went when Guedioura broke forward and found Deeney, who slipped it to Amrabat to his right. The Moroccan duly delivered a lovely teasing ball across the six-yard box but none of his teammates had gambled to get on the end of it.

An encouraging display from Guedioura was ended in the 74th minute when he was replaced by the Hornets’ first debut-maker of the season, Juan Camilo Zuniga, but with 15 minutes the complexion of the game was to change entirely.

The problems actually originated from a Watford corner which was headed clear and nobody took decisive action until it arrived at the feet of Davis. Suddenly the break was on for Saints and when the midfielder slipped the ball in the direction of Long, Watson found himself in a foot race and the last man. It was a race the Hornets’ substitute would not win and after he pulled back the Republic of Ireland, it came as no surprise to see referee Roger East produce a red card, even though the incident happened some 30 yards from goal.

The resultant free-kick was, like in the opening minute of the match, superbly struck by Tadic and again Gomes was equal to it, although he took a risk by pushing it straight back into the middle of the penalty area.

Ighalo was sacrificed for Anya for the last ten minutes of normal time as the hosts, unsurprisingly, started to dominate possession with their numerical advantage.

But their opponents remained resolute and organised, although it looked like they had been unpicked with four minutes remaining when a precise one-touch move saw the ball threaded through to Redmond, who slipped it past Gomes, only for his celebrations to be curtailed by a correctly raised offside flag.

Substitute Jeremy Pied struck another effort from the right angle of the area across the target and wide before the fourth official signalled a minimum of four minutes of stoppage time.

The Saints continued to press for a winner, but their opponents were not unduly troubled and successfully saw out the closing stages to get their first point of the campaign on the board.

Southampton: Forster; Cedric (Pied 79), Yoshida, Van Djik, Targett; Ward-Prowse (Hojbjerg 54), Romeu, Davis, Tadic; Redmond, Long (Austin 83). Not used: McCarthy, Clasie, Fonte, Rodriguez.

Watford: Gomes; Cathcart, Prodl, Britos; Amrabat, Guedioura (Zuniga 73), Behrami (Watson 64), Capoue, Holebas; Deeney, Ighalo (Anya 81). Not used: Pantilimon, Nyom, Sinclair, Vydra.

Bookings: Guedioura for foul on Davis (59); Watson sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity (75); Gomes for time wasting (87); Van Dijk for a foul on Deeney (90).

Referee: Roger East.