Watford’s promising start to life under Marco Silva has continued after they secured their first win of the season at Bournemouth as their new boy from Brazil and the player who was to replace him secured a 2-0 victory.

Richarlison was the stand-out figure in what was to become an increasingly impressive display and after Andre Gray and Nathaniel Chalobah had wasted good opportunities to break the deadlock, it was the summer arrival who put the visitors in front when he slid home at the second attempt from close range.

The 20-year-old didn’t play the full game, making way for Etienne Capoue with 11 minutes of normal time remaining and it was the Frenchman who made sure the sequence of draws between the two clubs was to end, firing home a sweetly-struck right-footed finish from 25 yards.

The Hornets had enjoyed the better of a goalless first half, but grew in stature after the break as they increasingly took the game to their hosts, controlling more and more territory and possession and creating a growing number of chances as a result.

It is still very early days, but this performance, coupled with last weekend’s draw against Liverpool, augurs well for the coming months.

The Hornets head coach was always going to have to make three changes after Daryl Janmaat, Younes Kaboul and Roberto Pereyra were ruled out after sustaining injuries in the season-opening 3-3 draw with Liverpool, but ultimately he decided on a fourth.

Kiko Femenia, Sebastian Prodl and Richarlison, as expected, came in for the sidelined trio, but the fourth alteration saw record signing Gray given the nod over Stefano Okaka up front.

Fit-again captain Troy Deeney was on the bench following his groin problem, while Will Hughes was among the substitutes for a first time in the Premier League.

Bournemouth opened their season with a 1-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion and Eddie Howe made two changes to his starting XI from the previous weekend.

Adam Smith came in for injured skipper Simon Francis, while Jordon Ibe replaced Marc Pugh, who dropped to a bench that also included Jermain Defoe.

The Hornets put themselves under unnecessary early pressure when Chalobah tried a cute pass around the corner on halfway and Abdoulaye Doucoure was beaten to a challenge he was always second favourite for. A ball over the top gave Benik Afobe the chance to try and unsettle the visitors’ defence, but Prodl cleared behind for a corner which ultimately came to nothing.

The visitors’ first opening followed soon after from a long Jose Holebas throw from the left which Richarlison helped on for Tom Cleverley to chest down, but his shot was painfully blocked by the face of former Hornets loanee Nathan Ake.

But Watford were again the architects of their own problems when a loose pass was latched onto, allowing Joshua King to be slipped in down the left side of the defence. His cut-back found Ryan Fraser, whose angled shot was parried out by Heurelho Gomes and Miguel Britos did enough to deflect Afobe’s follow-up over the top.

The hosts continued to look the more assured in the early stages, with another spell of possession around the opposition box ending with a mis-hit Harry Arter cross, which was cleared.

It was the Hornets who had the next opening though, and it was a good one as Femenia gave Gray the chance to run at the right side of the defence, before laying the ball off to Nordin Amrabat and his decent cross was headed down and wide of the far post by Chalobah.

This was the catalyst for Watford to enjoy their best spell to date; a neat passing move that saw Silva’s men try to attack down the left before switching play across field and to the right came to nothing, but then a lovely Richarlison pass split the Cherries defence to send Gray away on the left, but his attempt to pick out a team-mate was blocked by Charlie Daniels.

Britos was the first player to be booked in the 28th minute for a lunging challenge on Arter and Steve Cook would have suffered the same fate soon after when his desperate intervention took out Richarlison had the Brazilian not been offside.

Back came Bournemouth though, as a long ball over top released Afobe on the right side of the box and the striker shouldered Britos out of the way before hitting an angled half-volley which Gomes was again equal to.

Although it didn’t lead to an opportunity, Richarlison showed what he is capable of in the final third as the interval approached, showing Adam Smith on the outside before taking the right-back totally out of the game with a delicious flick.

And it was the Brazilian who set up the chance that could easily have led to the Hornets breaking the deadlock in the second minute of injury time.

Richarlison was again too good for the right side of the Cherries defence, standing them up before getting to the byline where he pulled the ball back to Gray, who blazed over the top when he should have at least hit the target.

Bournemouth were swiftly out of the blocks at the start of the second period and had two chances within the opening 100 seconds as the outstretched leg of Prodl just about prevented Afobe from connecting with Fraser’s cross from the right. Then from the resulting corner, Cook’s flicked header goalwards was kept out as Gomes dropped down to his left.

The Hornets should have had their first chance of the second half soon after when Holebas’ deep cross from the left sat up invitingly for Amrabat towards the right edge of the six-yard box, but he snatched badly at his shot and sent the ball back in the direction it came.

An even better chance came and went when Femenia played a pass to Cleverley overlapping on his right on halfway and the midfielder played an even better ball to Amrabat ahead of him.

Instead of going for the cross, the Moroccan international this time laid it back into the path of Chalobah, who was in plenty of space and time on the edge of the 18-yard box, only for the former Chelsea man to inexplicably dummy the ball as if he had got a shout from a team-mate to leave it.

It later transpired Chalobah did indeed get a call - and it unsportingly came from Arter.

Chalobah had a great chance to atone for that error soon after when he robbed Cook on halfway, leaving him with a clear run on goal but as he closed in on former Stamford Bridge colleague Asmir Begovic he delayed his attempted finish and the keeper read his intentions, blocking with his foot.

During that move, Cook and Gray tangled as they ran towards goal and both were booked by referee Roger East, but before play could restart Howe made a double change, bringing on Defoe and Pugh for Afobe and Ibe.

Frustrating would be a reasonable description of Chalobah’s afternoon up to this point and his mood was not improved when he was yellow carded for a foul on King.

The game was increasingly being played in the Cherries half though, and the Hornets' next effort came from a Cleverley corner from the left which fell for Richarlison, who spun and hit a half-volley which was blocked.

But the goal the Hornets had been threatening was to arrive in the 73rd minute – and it was the Brazilian who opened his account for the Hornets.

Silva’s men broke from halfway as Chalobah played a lovely slide-rule pass to the right side of the area where Gray ran off his man before striking a low centre into the heart of the six-yard box where Richarlison slid in for the ball with Adam Smith, before poking the ball over the line as it broke lose.

The Brazilian might have doubled his tally a couple of minutes later when he got his head on the end of a Holebas cross from the left, but his flicked effort went wide of the far post.

Howe played his final hand in the 78th minute as Lys Mousset replaced Fraser and a minute later Richarlison’s impressive afternoon was ended when he made way for Capoue.

Christian Kabasele then came on for Amrabat but not before the Cherries had spurned a chance to equalise when Pugh’s cross from the left was helped on by Defoe, but King was unable to keep his header down.

But an impressive second-half display was to be capped with four minutes of normal time remaining when after Begovic had parried an angled Gray shot, the ball was headed out by Cook and then helped on by Andrew Surman. But it fell invitingly for Capoue, who chested it down and struck a fine right-footed effort past Begovic from 25 yards to make it 2-0 to the visitors.

Ben Watson was given a late run out as a replacement for Chalobah as the Hornets were to comfortably negotiate six minutes of stoppage time to secure a thoroughly deserved victory.

Bournemouth: Begovic; A Smith, S Cook, Ake, Daniels; Ibe (Pugh 58), Surman, Arter, Fraser (Mousset 78); King, Afobe (Defoe 58). Not used: Boruc, Gosling, B Smith, Mings.

Watford: Gomes; Femenia, Prodl, Britos, Holebas; Doucoure, Chalobah (Watson 90); Amrabat (Kabasele 82), Cleverley, Richarlison (Capoue 79); Gray. Not used: Pantilimon, Deeney, Hughes, Okaka.

Bookings: Britos for a foul on Arter (28); Gray for off-the-ball incident with Cook (58); Cook for off-the-ball incident with Gray (58); Chalobah for a foul on King (63).

Referee: Roger East.