Crystal Palace ease relegation fears with convincing win over struggling Watford

Crystal Palace further distanced themselves from the relegation zone with a convincing  4-1 win over struggling Watford at Vicarage Road.

The Eagles had gone into the game on the back of a long winless run, but took an early lead when Jean-Philippe Mateta’s shot took a fortunate deflection off a defender and into the back of the net.

Watford struck back almost immediately through Moussa Sissoko’s header, but Conor Gallagher’s clever strike just before the half-time whistle retook the lead for Palace.

Wilfried Zaha then wrapped up all three points for the visitors with a low drive past Ben Foster in the Watford goal, before capping it off with a curled 85th-minute strike.

Palace had been without a victory in their last six league games before the trip to Vicarage Road, a run extending back until December 28 which, coupled with Newcastle’s resurgence, saw the bottom four close the gap to the others in the lower half of the table.

However, Patrick Vieira’s side looked composed and clinical in the final third as the Eagles boss got the better of his immediate predecessor Roy Hodgson, and Palace climbed above Leicester into 11th place, nine points above 18th-placed Burnley.

The result leaves Watford four points from safety, and with just one win since the former England boss took the mantle following Claudio Ranieri’s departure.

Crystal Palace had a penalty shout inside the first 10 minutes when Gallagher was brought down by Foster, but the goalkeeper got there just ahead of the Palace midfielder.

The visitors took the lead in the 15th minute, when the ball came in from Gallagher on the left and with Watford unable to clear, it fell to Mateta in the box.

Mateta turned and shot and his shot deflected off Kiko Femenia and past