Arsenal: What happened last time Watford played Arsenal?

Watford were victorious at the Emirates Stadium last time the two teams met in what turned out to be a season defining match for the Gunners in the 2016/17 season.

Arsenal return to action on Sunday against Watford, following the international break. The last time these two met, Arsenal slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home. The game was the start of many poor results to follow by the Gunners.

They were 2-0 down after 13 minutes, after two quick, successive goals came from Younes Kaboul and Troy Deeney. Nigerian Alex Iwobi managed to score one back in the 58th minute to give the home team a chance to make a comeback, but it was to no avail.

The North Londoners were still playing with a 4-2-3-1 formation at the time, with a back four of Nacho Monreal, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Gabriel. Coquelin partnered Aaron Ramsey in the middle, while Olivier Giroud lead the line in front of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Iwobi.

It was a poor performance all round from the boys in red, and tactically Walter Mazzarri had outwitted Arsene Wenger.

Why this game was so defining to their season was due to the previous result, and the result that followed. A hard fought 2-1 victory against Burnley, in which Alexis Sanchez scored a 98th minute penalty was supposed to be a turning point for the team, showing guts and determination to win after conceding a 93rd minute penalty. It was at this point the players were to kick on and really mount a title challenge, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

After the loss Arsenal were sitting in third position on the table, with the blues sitting tight on 56 points at the top of the table, while the Gunners were 6 points behind on 50.

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The next game would go on to be against the Blues at Stamford Bridge, where Arsenal would again lose in a poor display, killing off their title hopes for good and tightening the gap for the top 4.

It seems as though the Hornets were responsible for all the miseries that followed the home loss. Another four games would be lost, the club had an end of season crisis when their top four hopes laid in the hands of Liverpool, whom we eventually lost out to. And to top it off, players were fighting among one another.

Had we put in a better performance against Watford, we’d be sitting firm in the Champions League, and maybe the Premier League season could have ended on a much higher note.

Arsenal are to avoid another performance like that, and must be aware the Hornets are only one point behind them on the table, with only one loss. They have looked very bright this season with the likes of Doucoure and Richarlison scoring goals and looking threatening for the away team.

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The absence of Shkordran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny will make it difficult, but a strong performance is needed so that we don’t slump to Marco Silva’s men.