After beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at home on Sunday, what is to say Watford can’t now go all the way and do a Leicester City, or at least hold their own for a place in Europe next season?
Wins over Brighton & Hove Albion, Burnley and Crystal Palace before this were hardly indicative of greatness, but to beat Spurs is a big scalp. Now they are only the third team behind Liverpool and Chelsea to have a perfect start this season, and should be taken seriously.
Not even Leicester in their fairy-tale 2015/16 Premier League winning season got off to as good a start as this, as the Foxes dropped four points in their first four that year.
The good thing for the Hornets is that neither Liverpool nor Chelsea have been renowned for their consistency in recent seasons, and although Manchester City are widely expected to recover from their earlier draw away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, in this league you can’t write anyone off.
Leicester proved that anything can happen, and in the Premier League, the disparity between wealthy and enormously wealthy isn’t as great as it is in Spain, Italy or Germany, where the same teams dominate.
While City are odds on to defend their title the trophy hasn’t been retained in a decade, and smaller more organised teams can still pull off an upset.
Watford are at home to Manchester United next up (September 15) and Mourinho’s side won’t be relishing the prospect of a trip to Vicarage Road when the Hornets are in this kind of form.
After that, Watford face Fulham away and as we saw with Leicester in 2016, once you’ve strung momentum together with a few good wins, you can become unstoppable.
We should have seen the signs coming when it comes to Watford. Since Gino Pozzo acquired the club in 2012, they’ve got back into the Premier League and survived three seasons in the top flight.
The owners have gone a little crazy in that time with nine managers in six years, but now with Javi Gracia, they seem a lot more stable heading into their fourth season back in the top flight.
Despite having sold Richarlison to Everton for £35 million, they haven’t broken the bank this summer, only really splashing the cash on Gerard Deulofeu to make his loan from Barcelona permanent for £11.5 million.
They have, however, spent ambitiously over the past three seasons, and are now reaping the rewards of that side gelling together.
There is now nothing to stop them from surprising this season, as did Burnley last season by finishing seventh, in another reminder that in this league spirit and organisation can and will trump names and reputation.
