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5 talking points from Watford 4-1 Chelsea: Pressure mounts on Conte

Pressure on under-fire Chelsea boss Antonio Conte intensified after they crashed to 

a

heavy defeat at Vicarage Road.




Eden Hazard's superb solo effort had looked like earning the 10-man Blues a point

after he cancelled out Troy Deeney's first-half penalty.

However, Janmaat put the Hornets back in front soon after before Gerard

Deulofeu

and Roberto Pereyra wrapped up victory for the hosts.

Conte's side were force to play more than an hour a man short after Tiemoue



Bakayoko was given his marching orders for a second booking.


Here's five talking points from the game:


1. If Bakayoko is the answer, what was the question?




It is fair to say Tiemoue Bakayoko has yet to win over Chelsea fans since his £40

million move from Monaco last summer.

And his red card, after a mistake-riddled half-hour at Vicarage Road, will do

nothing 

to help sway the jury's deliberations.Bakayoko can have few complaints after his two bookings, five minutes apart, for 

poor challenges on Etienne Capoue and Richarlison.

Neither challenge was outrageous, but both smacked of a player yet to come to

terms with the Premier League's relentless physicality.

2. Don't cock the firing pin yet, Roman




According to the Ministry of Mischief, all is not well behind the scenes at Chelsea

and manager Antonio Conte is in the frame to get his old job back as Italy's

national coach.

Owner Roman Abramovich has exercised his trigger finger at this stage of the

season before, notably in disposing of 'Phil' Scolari nine years ago and Andre

Villas-Boas in 2012.

But later this month, Conte should get a chance to knock Barcelona off their perch

in the Champions League when Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez come to Stamford

Bridge in the last 16.

And no disrespect to Hull City, but a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals is there for

the taking nect week.

Even the greediest, most gluttonous owners would normally settle for two trophies

and a top-four finish.

If there was any doubt about the loyalty to their leader among travelling disciples

from west London, they broke into noisy support for Conte in the opening seconds.

3. Worst Hammy United




David Luiz started his first Premier League since October 28 and didn't look as

though he enjoyed the experience.

Chelsea were forced to rearrange the furniture after wing-back Marcos Alonso

was

ruled out with a “slight” strain,nationalto the colossal injury list which has left

Conte's high-intensity training methods under the spotlight.

Currently there are seven confirmed cases of twanged hamstrings at Stamford

Bridge, and Ross Barkley – who joined the sicknotes last week – is believed to be

the eighth victim of Chelsea's hammy curse.


4. Blue is the colour for Richarlison





Watford's Brazilian discovery Richarlison has revealed he regularly goes round to

Chelsea defender David Luiz's house for barbecues and to exercise his thumbs on

the PlayStation console.

Another Chelsea player, Willian, often makes up a holy trilogy of Brazilians, and it

would be no surprise to see all three on the same side in the Premier League next

season.

Richarlison was unimpressed when the Hornets sacked head coach Marco Silva

last month, admitting: “Marco is the person who is least to blame (for bad results)

but he was the one who paid the highest price. The ones on the pitch were the

players, not him.”

5. Watford fans believe in Gino

Just in case there are any non-believers out there who haven't yet got the

message:

Watford fans back owner Gino Pozzo's decision to fire Marco Silva 15 days ago.

Not for the first time, Hornets diehards in the Rookery unfurled an industrial-size

banner bearing an image of the Harvard-educated Italian, who is now on to his

10th head coach in fewer than six years at Vicarage Road.

The players decorated Javi Gracia's first home game in charge with a first half

brimming with endeavour. If those 45 minutes continue to be the yardstick, Watford won't go down.
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