Watford 2-1 Arsenal: Tom Cleverley scores late winner to sink Gunners

The former Manchester United man lashed home in stoppage time after the visitors were unable to clear their lines to give the Hornets a first Premier League home win of the campaign.

Per Mertesacker had headed Arsenal ahead with his first league goal in 1400 days, only for a contentious Troy Deeney penalty to draw Watford level before Cleverley's late heroics sealed a memorable 2-1 victory.

Arsene Wenger's side – who started without either Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez – had won their last four games in all competitions following a slow start but they were poor for much of the contest.

A point would have seen Arsenal leapfrog Chelsea into fourth but it was Marco Silva who was instead left toasting a place in the top four.

They are 100/1 to finish the season in such a position with Arsenal now out to 15/8 to do likewise. They are 2/5 to miss out after another setback.

Arsenal were struggled to create any openings in the early stages and Mohamed Elneny's long-range effort over the crossbar was their best opportunity of the opening 30 minutes.

The opener came soon after as Mertesacker rose to head home Granit Xhaka's corner from six yards out, marking his first league start in almost 18 months with a rare goal.

Richarlison curled an effort wide for Watford early in the second half before Ozil was introduced off the bench in place of a limping Danny Welbeck.

The Germany international was straight into the action, sliding a pass into Alex Iwobi, whose shot was well saved by Gomes.

Gomes was again on hand to prevent Ozil adding a second, Iwobi returning the favour with a through ball before the substitute hit straight at the former Tottenham goalkeeper.

Watford went straight down the other end and equalised as Bellerin was deemed to have fouled Richarlison in the box, with referee Neil Swarbrick showing no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Watford can now be backed at 14/1 to be relegated.

Story of the odds (with Sky Bet)

• Watford to win 2-1 reached 50/1 in-running, while Tom Cleverley to score the next goal was at 250/1 prior to his stoppage-time effort.
• Per Mertesacker to open the scoring was a 33/1 chance
• Watford to win 2‐1 was an 18/1 Price Boost pre-match

The hosts' own substitute Deeney stepped up to slam the ball past Petr Cech for his first goal of the campaign and set up a grandstand finish to what had been a largely forgettable encounter.

Another Hornets substitute, Etienne Capoue, almost scored as his shot took a huge deflection off Mertesacker before hitting in the post.

The winner would come in the dying stages as Arsenal, with their backs to the wall, could not clear a bouncing ball which eventually fell to Cleverley to slam home.

Post-match reaction

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left fuming at defeat: "I believe that we had many, many dangerous situations where we could have scored but didn't. We had opportunities to score the second goal.

"The decision on the penalty is a bit ridiculous and then we panicked a bit for their second goal and in the end we stand with a defeat.

"It is a scandalous decision, but what can we do about it? Nothing. We can talk and talk and talk. At the end of the day they scored.

"We dropped our level in the second half, we played very well in the first half. Despite that, we had the chances to score two and three."

Watford boss Marco Silva on the penalty: "I have seen the penalty now and I respect the decision of the referee.

"It's important, I didn't see a dive or a simulation.

"Richarlison has suffered the most fouls in the Premier League this season, and people are starting to say he dives.

"He is not. He is fair, he wins fouls like the best players in the world win fouls."

Watford captain Troy Deeney on his side's flying start: "We have had a great start to the season and when we play the big teams we don't want to do ourselves an injustice.

"It's not a bad start, but it doesn't mean anything now.

"We are just taking it game by game. We're having a great start, we've got a great bunch, I believe we are building something really good and you can see with the late goals it shows we have got belief and that we are all in it together.

"It's a massive team effort and it's a good win and we go again on Monday."

Opta facts

• Watford have made their best-ever start to a top-flight season after eight games (15 points) since their maiden season in the top division in 1982/83 under Graham Taylor (16).
• Arsenal lost to a stoppage-time minute winner in the Premier League for the first time since January 2012 (Bobby Zamora for Fulham).
• Arsenal scored with the first shot on target of the game.
• Per Mertesacker scored his first Premier League goal in 1,400 days, since netting v Man City in December 2013.
• All six of Mertesacker’s Premier League goals have come via headers.
• Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Arsenal have scored more headed goals in the Premier League than any other team (35).
• Courtesy of his penalty kick, Troy Deeney ended his longest-ever goal drought in the Premier League (13 games).
• Petr Cech has failed to save any of the last 18 penalties he has faced in the Premier League, last saving one for Chelsea against Fulham in February 2011.
• Deeney’s goal was the first Arsenal conceded in the top-flight in 444 minutes of action.
• Cleverley's goal was his first in a league game for Watford since March 2010, when he netted against Sheffield Wednesday in the second-tier.