Watford suffered an eighth consecutive home defeat on Sunday as Arsenal left Vicarage Road with a 3-2 win.

The Hornets went into the match off the back of a confidence-boosting goalless draw away at Manchester United, but were soon chasing the game as Martin Odegaard put the visitors in front after just five minutes.

A stunning Cucho Hernandez effort not long after had the hosts believing they could get something out of what had started as a frantically paced end-to-end battle.

However, Bukayo Saka had the hosts behind in the game for a second time on the half hour mark, while Gabriel Martinelli extended the visitors' advantage after the half time break, meaning Moussa Sissoko's late goal was ultimately inconsequential.

Watford manager Roy Hodgson was forced into two changes up front, with Ismaila Sarr ruled out with a hamstring problem and Joshua King also unavailable. They were replaced with Joao Pedro and Hernandez, who made up an exciting-looking attacking trident with Emmanuel Dennis.

Elsewhere in the starting XI, Kiko Femenia was restored to the team, replacing Jeremy Ngakia, after missing out on the trip to Old Trafford last week.

Peter Etebo was also fit enough to make the bench, meaning he was involved in a matchday squad for the first time since the 1-1 draw with Newcastle back in September.

Arsenal meanwhile started the same team that came from behind to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in their last match prior to their visit to Vicarage Road.

Ahead of kick off, all inside the Vic showed their support for the people of Ukraine with a moving demonstration. The fans in the Rookery End held aloft the colours of the Ukrainian flag, while the two teams stood alongside one another around the centre circle for a moment of applause and reflection.

It took just 17 seconds of the match for the Hornets to get their home fans applauding loudly once again, as Pedro slipped Dennis through on goal, with the Nigerian curling beyond the advancing Aaron Ramsdale in the Arsenal net. However, he had mistimed his run and the goal was chalked off, turning down the volume of the home supporters.

They were to get quieter still just five minutes later when Odegaard put the visitors in front, following a neat exchange with Saka out on the right.

The Norwegian set the England international away down the flank before advancing into the penalty area, where he gratefully received the cutback and side-footed beyond Ben Foster.

Despite the setback, the Hornets maintained their belief and restored parity before ten minutes were on the clock, with a sensational goal of the season contender.

Dennis held up play patiently to the right of the Gunners’ penalty area before slipping in Femenia on the overlap. His cross hung invitingly in the air and Hernandez leapt to connect perfectly with an overhead kick that fired the ball into the bottom corner of Ramsdale’s net.

The frenetic pace of the game showed no sign of relenting as Arsenal went back on the offensive, looking to restore their lead. Some clever work from Granit Xhaka gave Thomas Partey the opportunity to do just that from the edge of the Hornets’ area just after the quarter-of-an-hour mark, but the Ghanaian guided his strike inches wide of the mark.

Then it was Watford’s turn to put their opponents’ defence under pressure, as Sissoko nicked the ball away from Xhaka on halfway and threaded in Dennis down the right. The Hornets’ top scorer cut inside and shot with his left foot, only for Ramsdale to thwart. The keeper then had to scramble the ball to safety under the pressure of Pedro.

The game had become impossible to predict by this point, with both sides looking dangerous in the final third and inviting at the back. Partey had another shot from the edge of the area that went wide of Foster’s right, while Sissoko lashed over the bar from range.

Given the way the match was flowing, it was perhaps inevitable that someone was going to find the net sooner or later. Unfortunately for Watford it was the visitors who obliged on the half hour mark, through Saka.

Tom Cleverley was guilty of holding onto the ball for far too long outside his own 18-yard box and the Arsenal winger picked his pocket before playing into the feet of Alexandre Lacazette. The Frenchman backheeled back into the path of Saka, whose shot completely wrong-footed Foster, who dived the wrong way as the ball flew into the top corner.

The goal hampered the home side’s momentum as they finished the first half on the back foot, although the Gunners were unable to create anything of great substance, with the score remaining 2-1 at the break.

Watford emerged for the second half with renewed desire and started pressing their visitors higher up the field. They forced an error from Ramsdale soon after the restart, as the keeper scuffed a clearance into the path of Sissoko after coming to collect a ball out on the left. Watford were unable to do anything with the gifted possession.

They then found themselves two goals behind after some fast thinking from Saka.

His quick throw in found Cedric Soares charging down the right and the full back initiated some intricate one-touch football on the edge of the box involving Odegaard and Lacazette, who laid off to Martinelli.

The Brazilian left Foster flat-footed with a looping strike that nestled in the corner of the goal.

The Hornets looked to hit back straight away and Arsenal didn’t look at all convincing with their attempts to play out from the back. Hassane Kamara lashed over the bar from close range after getting on to the end of a Pedro through ball, while Cleverley fired straight at Ramsdale on a tight angle after another haphazard clearance from the Gunners.

Arsenal weathered the storm however before going down the other end and creating a couple of good opportunities to make it four. Lacazette first skewed well wide on the end of a threatening counter-attack, with Mikel Arteta’s men perhaps guilty of overplaying, before Ben White smashed an inviting cross from the left across the face of goal.

The home supporters turned their anger towards their manager on the 64th minute as Hodgson elected to remove Imran Louza and replace him with Edo Kayembe.

They should have been celebrating soon after, however, when Watford squandered a golden opportunity to halve the deficit. Sissoko picked out Femenia on the right and the full-back’s cross was begging to be turned into an empty net by Dennis at the back post, but somehow his shot ballooned up into the air and landed behind him instead of in the net.

Dennis wasted another good chance with ten minutes of normal time remaining after Soares' clumsy backpass went straight to the striker. With Kamara free to his left, Dennis underhit the pass and Arsenal cleared the danger.

The visitors then went right down the other end and almost extended their lead through substitute Eddie Nketiah, but his shot cannoned back off the post, with Foster once again beaten.

The Hornets made the scoreline look more palatable with three minutes of the game left when Sissoko chested down Hernandez's long ball in the box, before barging past Gabriel and slipping the ball underneath Ramsdale. 

However, five minutes of stoppage was not enough for them to find the all-important equaliser and the game finished 3-2, despite substitute Samuel Kalu trying his luck with a shot from range that Ramsdale had to catch.

The defeat leaves Watford three points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table, with trips to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton coming up in the next seven days.

TEAM: Foster; Femenia, Cathcart, Samir, Kamara; Louza (Kayembe), Sissoko, Cleverley (Kalu); Pedro, Hernandez, Dennis
Unused substitutes: Bachmann, Etebo, Masina, Sema, Kabasele, Sierralta, Kucka