Watford vs Liverpool: Result and reaction from Premier League fixture
All the reaction from the extraordinary game at Vicarage Road
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Liverpool's unbeaten run of success in this season's Premier League was ended in unfathomable fashion on Saturday as struggling Watford hammered the European champions 3-0 at their ecstatic Vicarage Road stadium.
Ismaila Sarr inspired the extraordinary upset, stunning Liverpool with two goals in six second-half minutes before he set up captain Troy Deeney with a third for the team who had started the day one from bottom, 55 points behind the runaway leaders.
Liverpool's first league defeat of the season meant the end of their hopes of going the whole league campaign as unbeaten as the new 'Invincibles' after 44 league matches without a defeat.
It also came on the evening when they were expected to surpass champions Manchester City by creating a new English top-flight record of 19 successive league victories.
The setback will doubtless not stop Juergen Klopp's men going on to lift their first English title for 30 years as they still remain 22 points ahead of their nearest pursuers, yet their season's aura of domestic invincibility has now been demolished.
Liverpool had previously dropped only two points in the league this season -- their draw at Manchester United in October -- but from the start, Watford attacked them with unexpected vigour.
Watford had looked the more likely to break the deadlock in the first half with Gerard Deulofeu proving Liverpool's main tormentor before he was taken off by stretcher with a knee injury.
Yet it was only when Sarr struck twice just before the hour mark and then turned provider for Deeney to shoot home a third that the 'mission impossible' became a reality.
How to watch
Which TV channel is it on?
The match will be broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League, and HD channels.
Can I stream the game online?
Sky Sports subscribers can watch the game via the Sky Sports website and the Sky Go app.
The Hornets are desperately in need of some points. They won four of their first six matches under Nigel Pearson but haven't won in five games and keepm dropping down the table.
In their last six matches that have scored just five goals and have conceded nine times in their last four matches.
If Liverpool defeat Watford today they will set the record for the most consecutive wins in the top-flight with 19 and they'll remain undefeated in the league this season.
Nigel Pearson on Watford setting their own agenda and saving their season:
"We have got our own agenda and that is to save our own season. If the players can prove they are capable of playing against the best side in the country - I think that's the motivation the players need.
"We have to win games for our own season - not to change history for another club. It's about our season, our circumstances.
"If you go into games writing them off because you are playing against a top side, you limit your opportunities to pick up points. We have to go out there and give it our best. If we are at our best, and they are not, then who knows."
Ten minutes to go until kick off. Liverpool have dominated this fixture as of late but can Watford surprise them today?
The teams head out of the tunnel and onto the pitch for the pre-match handshakes. Troy Deeney leading out Watford with Virgil van Dijk captaining Liverpool as Jordan Henderson remains injured.
Watford vs Liverpool is up next...
Watford 0 - 0 Liverpool
Kick off: Liverpool start the match and send the ball long down the left wing but put it out of play for a Watford throw in.
Watford 0 - 0 Liverpool
3 mins: Firmino squeezes into the box with the ball and tries to find Oxlade-Chamberlain with a short pass. The Ox just about gets to the ball before he's closed down and Watford can clear it away.
Watford 0 - 0 Liverpool
6 mins: van Dijk fires a cross field ball out to Alexander-Arnold who plays it back into the centre of the pitch. Liverpool are slowly pushing their way further and further up the pitch as Watford drop back to defend.
Oxlade-Chamberlain makes a run into the box and Alexander-Arnold finds him with a ball over the top. The Ox is closed down and he manages to tap the ball to Liverpool's right back whose attempted cross goes out for a goal kick.
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