Sarr double for Watford leaves Norwich winless in Premier League

Updated: May 17, 2023, 12:04 am

Watford beat Norwich City 3-1 away on Saturday to extend the Canaries' winless run to five Premier League matches this season, with Ismaila Sarr's second-half brace ensuring the visitors took all three points.

The battle between the two promoted teams produced end-to-end action at Carrow Road, but the result leaves Daniel Farke's Norwich bottom of the table without a point.

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Having lost their last 10 matches in the 2019-20 season when they were relegated, Norwich have now lost 15 Premier League games in a row -- the longest losing run in English top-flight history under a single manager.

"If you provide mistakes in this level, you will get punished," Farke said. "We've conceded too many goals, there was too many mistakes, we had the better chances to lead.

"We have got to be self-critical, we can't give goals away. The first point is to be self-critical in order to improve."

Ismaila Sarr was Watford's match-winner against Norwich.
Stephen Pond/Getty Images

Watford took the lead in the 17th minute when right back Kiko Femenia delivered a sumptuous cross into the box and Emmanuel Dennis found a sliver of space between the Norwich centre-backs to head home.

Teemu Pukki equalised when he got in behind the Watford defence and latched on to Mathias Normann's pass before curling the ball around goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Sarr nearly put Watford 2-1 up on the stroke of halftime when Danny Rose played him through on goal, only to be denied by goalkeeper Tim Krul.

But Sarr came out in the second half and scored first from a Joshua King cutback and then by pouncing on a rebound to guide the ball into an empty net for his second. That led many disappointed Norwich fans to start heading for the exits.

The forward nearly capped his performance with a hat-trick when he attempted to chip Krul, but the goalkeeper was up to the task and saved Norwich any more embarrassment.

The result ended Watford's three-match losing streak and moved Xisco Munoz's side up to 10th in the standings.

"For the team today it was a huge win. We picked ourselves up really well today," Hornets goalkeeper Foster said. "It's a new team, there's been a turnaround, it's inevitable in football."