Norwich’s Josh Sargent doubles up on a dark night for Ranieri and Watford

Have the lights gone out on Watford and Claudio Ranieri? Josh Sargent, the American scoring two fine goals, the first a piece of volleyed improvisation, the second a fine header, before Juraj Kucka’s late own goal, pulled Norwich out of the bottom three, and for the first time this season, Watford fell into the drop zone.

A match that embraced farce, in terms of its low-quality football, and a lengthy floodlight failure that came in between Sargent’s second-half goals, offered plenty of evidence why both teams are where they are. At a club with owners not shy of making multiple managerial changes, Ranieri’s future can only be in severe question.

With Newcastle struggling to spend their new owners’ cash and Burnley beleaguered, a relegation equation of three from four appears set in stone. Neither of these teams had the finance or ability to take a sunshine Saudi break like Newcastle, and yet might still escape, this the definition of a six-pointer.

Norwich could climb out of the Premier League relegation zone for the first time in 53 matches, last week’s defeat of Everton the first victory any of the bottom four had celebrated in 20. The first half’s sequence of panicked, mediocre play suggested just why these two were part of that quartet.

With a pre-match tribute paid to Graham Taylor, Watford’s greatest ever manager, on the fifth anniversary of his death, there was a gala atmosphere. It took time for either team to rise to the occasion. Milot Rashica buzzed with intent but Norwich’s static front pairing of Teemu Pukki and Adam Idah gave him little to work with. It was Rashica, with a blocked free-kick, and a 12th-minute sighter, firing the shots during early-stage dominance by the visitors that did not last. Dean