Watford have been relegated from the Premier League one season after their return.
The Hornets join Norwich City as twonofnthe three clubs that will go down to English football’s secon division next season. Both sides qualified as first and second on the log last season and will now return the same way they came.
Crystal Palace dealt the decisive blow in their match on Saturday. A striker from Wilfried Zaha from the penalty spot in the 30th minute after a first half of activity from both sides was enough to win the game.
Goalkeeper Ben Foster criticised the attitude of his teammates after their relegation was confirmed. He said to BBC Match of the Day after the game: “You just don’t really know what you’re going to get from us, to be perfectly honest,” the 39-year-old said.
“We’ve got too many players who are happy to put it in for an hour, 70 minutes, but then probably fall off and happily let it go in the last 20 minutes.
“You can’t have that. When you’re a team like us, the minimum is giving it everything you’ve got. The ability you can forego a little bit and accept that you might not have the quality of some players, but you’ve got to put the effort in.
“You could see the confidence was low, we were really lacking today,” added the former England keeper, who was also part of the Watford side that suffered relegation at the end of the 2019-20 season.
“Last week’s defeat by Burnley really took it out of us. We knew before the game that it was nigh-on impossible. We wanted to come and compete, and I think we did.”
Foster also claimed that Zaha’s goal was not a penalty. “We felt it probably wasn’t a penalty so we feel a little bit hard done by,” said Foster.
“But credit to the lads in front of me today. They gave what they could but the confidence was lacking.”
The Hornets are set to lose a number of their players following their relegation. Nigerian striker Emmanuel Dennis is surely on his way out, with Leeds United – another side fighting for their Premier League lives – on his trail.
Moussa Sissoko, Cucho Hernandez and a few others could also leave the club. Roy Hodgson will also be leaving his position as manager to go back into retirement, having been brought back to try and save the Hornets’ season.
Queen’s Park Rangers manager John Eustace is in the lead to take over from the septuagenarian manager, according to reports.
