Watford were far from their best as they were humbled by Leicester City at the King Power Stadium yesterday.

Having had the better of open play in the opening half-hour, the Hornets had looked weak from dead balls and it was little surprise when Wilfred Ndidi gave the hosts the lead from a corner.

The most disappointing thing, though, was the way Watford capitulated after Riyad Mahrez doubled the Foxes' advantage just before the hour.

The verve around Vicarage Road has been replaced by frustration following a run of three straight league defeats for the first time all season, and it has been largely as a result of entirely avoidable issues.

Here's how we rated the players:

Heurelho Gomes - 7

Made some good saves in both halves and was left exposed for each of the three goals from some really poor defending.

Christian Kabasele - 6.5

Did a decent job on the right of the back three before the break, and was less involved when moved to right-back as Watford 

Sebastian Prodl - 6

Beaten too easily in the air for a man of his stature on a number of occasions by Jamie Vardy and pulled out of position for early second-half chance. 

Adrian Mariappa - 5.5
Got lucky with his clearance from Jamie Vardy’s low cross, which ended up cannoning against the post and away, but showed more awareness than his team-mates to get there in the first place. Was looking assured before woeful mistake left him entirely at fault for Leicester’s second.

Nordin Amrabat - 5.5
Promising with the ball at his feet but incapable of delivering a good cross. Ended up smashing the ball in low and hoping to produce something - it didn’t. Improved his delivery after the break. Often left two-on-one defensively when Watford were at 3-5-2 and in the circumstances, coped ok.


Etienne Capoue - 5
Produced some real quality early on, but equally looked like he’d never played football before at times too. Unforgivable error for the opener where he just failed to control the ball in the most crucial area of the pitch, and never improved after that.

Abdoulaye Doucoure - 6

Solid again and always, always looks for a forward pass. Needs to be braver in his decision-making near the box as when Watford looked bright before half-time, he passed up several decent chances for a shot, wasting the chance.

Tom Cleverley - 5.5
A couple of second-half efforts aside, went missing for large parts of the game and looks out of sorts recently. Set-piece deliveries again not up to much.

Daryl Janmaat - 6.5

Assured and provided better quality on the ball than Amrabat on the other side. Less involved when moved to left and then right-back but is growing into one of Watford’s most consistently decent players.

M’Baye Niang - 5.5
Started brightly and was the early focal point of the Hornets’ attack, only to drift as he so often does for the rest of the game. Produced one real moment of quality with a curling effort late on but did not do enough.

Stefano Okaka - 6
Did his best with precious little service, forcing a smart save before half-time and also holding the ball up well - you can see why he was included. Is looking a decent signing for Watford more and more as time goes on.

SUBS

Troy Deeney (for Capoue 67) - 6
Looked lively but the game was gone long before his arrival on the pitch.

Camilo Zuniga (for Kabasele 72) - 5.5

Still not a central midfielder.

Dion Pereira (for Niang 83) - N/A