Raúl Jiménez leads Wolves’ rout of sloppy Watford

Wolves ended their run of three successive defeats with a comfortable win over Watford, just as they had done in September, on a night when they equalled their biggest Premier League win to consolidate their place among the chasing pack, four points behind fifth place.

Rúben Neves’s sumptuous chip five minutes from time allowed Wolves to match their 4-0 win over Blackpool in 2011 on a night that Ben Foster will probably want to forget as Watford’s good run on the road came to an abrupt halt.

The former West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper, who celebrated Watford’s FA Cup semi-final win over these opponents three years ago with a tweet mentioning Wo1ve5 in memory of the Baggies’ 5-1 win at Molineux in Mick McCarthy’s final game here in 2012, was harangued all evening long by the Wolves fans and gave away the ball for Daniel Podence to make it 3-0 in the 21st minute.

Wolves had won 2-0 at Vicarage Road after losing their opening three games under Bruno Lage at the start of the season, going on to produce top-six form before a recent trio of setbacks prefaced this improved performance.

Raúl Jiménez opened the scoring before Cucho Hernández put past his own keeper but the goal of the night came late on when Neves, having taken one touch to steady himself on receiving Chiquinho’s header back, advanced into the penalty area as if he was going to blast his shot only to dink it over Foster’s head into the top corner. It was a sublime moment, the cherry on the icing, from a 24-year-old whom his manager believes can reach the top of his profession.

“I think he misses his chance of shooting when he came inside,” Lage said. “It’s so important for Rúben. He knows what I want from him, and what I want for his career. He should be the top