Watford are celebrating a result that will be remembered for years to come after they thrashed Luton Town 4-0 to record their biggest ever derby victory at Vicarage Road.

The Hornets came into the game facing a host of questions following their dreadful display at Millwall, but there could be no criticism of their character and commitment today.

The hosts were at it from the outset and, boosted by taking an early lead, proceeded to emulate the club’s famous 4-0 victory at Kenilworth Road in 1997 with a performance that showcased the best of their qualities.

The Hornets would have wanted to start strongly and within three minutes they were in front, Keinan Davis superbly flicking home a cross from Hassane Kamara.

That set the tone for a first-half display that mixed grit and resilience with moments of genuine attacking quality that looked like it would go unrewarded with a second goal until the end of the opening period when William Troost-Ekong scored after a well-worked corner routine.

Any hopes the Hatters had of getting back into the contest were put to bed within 12 minutes of the restart when excellent pressing by Davis forced keeper Ethan Horvath into a mistake and Joao Pedro was the beneficiary.

Ismaila Sarr rammed home Watford’s ascendency with the fourth before Luton’s misery was completed when half-time substitute was rightly sent off for a bad challenge on Ken Sema.

All in yellow can reflect with pride on their performance with pride tonight – from Troost-Ekong and Craig Cathcart, who defended superbly to keep the Hatters at arm’s length for the most part, through the high energy midfield pairing of Hamza Choudhury and Edo Kayembe, to Pedro, who tormented the Hatters with his talent on the ball, to the physicality and line-leading qualities of Davis.

Slaven Bilic made three changes to the team that performed so poorly in the defeat at Millwall on Wednesday, one of which was enforced following Imran Louza’s serious injury. He was, as expected, replaced by Kayembe, while Cathcart and Pedro replaced Mattie Pollock and Yaser Asprilla.

Luton came into the game unbeaten in their previous seven games and boss Nathan Jones made three changes from the team that beat Norwich City 1-0 last time out.

In came captain Sonny Bradley, Luke Freeeman and Elijah Adebayo at the expense of Dan Potts and Harry Cornick, who was on the bench, while Fred Onyedinma was not involved.

The Hatters sought to make the running from the opening whistle but the visiting support was stunned into silence in the third minute.

Watford had some good pressure around the Luton box which ended with Ismaila Sarr slipping the ball down the left side of the area to the overlapping Hassane Kamara who clipped a finely weighted cross into the heart of the six-yard box where Davis, who was being held by Bradley, superbly flicked the ball beyond Horvath to get the hosts off to a flyer.

The touchpaper had been lit but Luton almost equalised with their first opening two minutes later when Allan Campbell scuffed a shot narrowly wide of Daniel Bachmann’s right-hand post.

The Hornets were clearly up for the battle though, and Davis went close to doubling his and his team’s tally in the ninth minute with a storming run through the middle of the pitch which ended with a low drive which Horvath had to get down to push wide of his left-hand post.

Sarr was to twice appeal unsuccessfully for a penalty after being nudged over by James Bree before Bradley became the first player to be booked when he won the ball, but also took out Pedro, after the Brazilian had left Clinton Morris for dead with a superb piece of skill. Referee Bobby Madley’s decision though, enraged Hatters boss Jones who became involved in a very animated discussion with Bilic on the touchline.

Tom Lockyer was perhaps also fortunate not to be booked for a cynical trip on Pedro soon after, but Watford were on top and the visiting defence came under pressure again when Kamara was twice able to get in low crosses from tight to the byline.

Davis, who was proving a real handful for the Hatters rearguard with his physicality, talked his way into the referee’s notebook in the 29th minute for complaining too much, but Horvath was soon busy again saving a low strike from Kayembe.

Pedro was the next to sparkle, weaving his way past a couple of opponents in his own half with some superb footwork before surging forward and finding Sarr, who had switched to the right briefly, but his early cross was too far ahead of Davis.

Bachmann hadn’t been unduly troubled too much thus far but in the 34th he came for a Freeman cross but was beaten to it by the towering Adebayo, whose header looped onto the roof of the net.

Watford sought to finish the opening period strongly though, and almost had second when Davis turned his marker superbly on the left side of the area but he was unable to squeeze his attempted finish beyond Horvath.

Pedro’s first corner came to nothing but he was to get a second bite of the cherry, this time rolling the set-piece short to Dan Gosling, he returned it to the Brazilian who swung a deep cross to the back post where Davis and Sarr had peeled off around the back, Davis headed it back into the heart of the danger zone and the grateful Troost-Ekong stabbed the ball into the roof of the net to send the majority of Vicarage Road into delirium.

Jones made a change at the start of the second half, bringing on Gabriel Osho for captain Bradley and switching to a 3-5-2 formation.

There was no immediate pressure from Luton after the restart, with Alfie Doughty seeing yellow for a two-footed challenge on Sema after 51 minutes.

However, the Hornets survived a scare soon after when a corner was played in at pace from the left and both Lockyer and Osho narrowly failed to connect with the ball as it flashed across the six-yard box.

Jones was readying his third change in the 56th minute as Harry Cornick was preparing to enter the fray but he was unable to make it before Watford scored their third.

There appeared to be no danger when Osho rolled the ball back to Horvath, but Davis pressed superbly, forcing the keeper to rush his clearance, hr only succeeding in finding Pedro who took a touch before rifling a shot inside the keeper’s near post.

Cornick did duly replace Freeman but the Hornets were rampant, Pedro and Davis both embarking on barnstorming runs that had the Hatters in trouble.

Jordan Clark’s clipped delivery into the box did give Morris the chance to test Bachmann, but the Hornets keeper wasn’t troubled as he dropped on the ball.

Cornick and Sema were both booked for their part in a shoving match but Davis’ excellent afternoon came to an end in the 69th minute when he suffered an injury right in front of the dugouts and had to be replaced by Vakoun Bayo.

Bachmann had to go to ground to hold a Clark shot after 72 minutes before the Hornets made their second change as Mario Gaspar replaced Choudhury.

Sarr hadn’t had the opportunity to really test Horvath but that changed with 11 minutes remaining when he was found by Bayo and the forward toyed with the Hatters defence before curling a fine finish into the far corner to make it 4-0.

Luton’s afternoon was to get even worse with seven minutes remaining when Osho rightly saw a red card for a bad challenge on Sema near the touchline.

Asprilla and Samuel Kalu replaced Pedro and Sarr for the closing stages and Bayo might have made it five when he forced Horvath into a late save.

Watford had produced their most complete performance for some time – the challenge now is to kick on from it and build some consistency to their displays and results.

Watford: Bachmann; Gosling, Cathcart, Troost-Ekong, Kamara; Choudhury (Gaspar 75), Kayembe; Sema, Pedro (Asprilla 84), Sarr (Kalu 84); Davis (Bayo 69). Subs not used: Okoye, Pollock, Morris.

Luton Town: Horvath; Bree, Lockyer, Bradley (Osho 46), Bell; Clark, Campbell (Watson 88), Doughty; Adebayo, Morris (Jerome 77), Freeman (Cornick 55). Subs not used: Isted, Potts, Berry.

Bookings: Bradley for a foul on Pedro (18); Davis for dissent (29); Doughty for a foul on Sema (51); Campbell for a foul on Pedro (58); Cornick for a skirmish with Sema (67); Sema for a skirmish with Cornick (67); Osho for a foul on Sema – red card (83) Attendance: 19,282.

Referee: Bobby Madley.