Watford vs. Arsenal: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game
Arsenal kept pace with Premier League title rivals Manchester United and Manchester City with a 3-0 win over Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday.
Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey all found the back of the net in the second half to keep the Gunners two points behind City in the race for first.
The Gunners faced a challenge from the hosts, but once Alexis struck for the first goal of the match in the 63rd minute, the Hornets began to fade in front of their home fans.
Here's a look at our winners and losers from Arsenal's road victory at Vicarage Road.
Winner: Alexis Sanchez
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Alexis Sanchez continued his stellar form in front of goal with a strike in the 63rd minute from the left side of the box.
The Chilean picked up the ball in the penalty area after Nathan Ake took down Mesut Ozil in the center of the box. With no penalty called and no defenders around him, Sanchez finished off the play with a blast past Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.
Since his hat-trick against Leicester City on September 26, Sanchez has scored once against Olympiakos and Watford and twice against Manchester United.
With a red-hot scorer in their squad, the Gunners will look to the Chilean to help them challenge Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League.
Losers: Watford's Back Four
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Up until Arsenal's first goal, Watford's defensive game plan worked to perfection.
The Hornets crowded the passing lanes normally used by the Gunners and surrounded them in the box when they possessed the ball in the final third.
However, Sanchez's 63rd-minute strike destroyed all the good work put in by the Watford back four. For the rest of the match, the Hornets were left chasing the hungry Arsenal attack that pounced on two more occasions.
Watford can take some positives out of the contest, but they also need to use Saturday as a learning experience. If they can fight for 90 minutes despite going down a goal, Watford should be able to avoid the bottom three for most of the season.
Winner: Olivier Giroud
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Within four minutes of entering the pitch for Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud was celebrating a goal with his teammates.
Giroud finished a beautiful team move with a strike into the right side of the net in the 68th minute to finish off the feisty Hornets.
The strike was the third in two games at the club and international level for the Frenchman, who bagged a brace in France's 2-1 win over Denmark on Sunday.
If he continues to produce off the bench, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger may have to insert Giroud into the starting lineup sooner rather than later.
Loser: Theo Walcott
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Theo Walcott failed to extend his decent spell of form into Saturday as he was invisible for most of the 63 minutes he was on the pitch.
Walcott made 13 touches and put one shot on goal in a starting role for the Gunners. In comparison, Giroud took three shots and put two of them on target with the same amount of touches, per WhoScored.
The disappointing performance from Walcott came after he contributed to at least one goal in each of Arsenal's last three games in all competitions.
While his starting job isn't in danger yet, we would not recommend Walcott to replicate his 63-minute shift from Saturday anytime soon.
Winner: Santi Cazorla
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Santi Cazorla was the driving force of the Arsenal attack all match long as he dictated the pace with his strong passing and control of possession.
The Spaniard led all players in touches with 119 and completed 93 percent of his 100 passes, per WhoScored.
Cazorla's dominant performance started to kick in during the second half as Arsenal started to outclass the hosts, who to their credit played strong for the first 45 minutes.
For most of the second half, the Gunners were able to pass the ball around the penalty area with ease and they were rarely caught out on the counter as well.
For the Gunners to control the match against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, Cazorla will need to put in the same type of quality shift he did on Saturday.
Winner/Loser: Troy Deeney
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Troy Deeney was an absolute workhorse on all parts of the pitch in the first half as Watford remained in contention for a surprising three points at home.
However, the effort given by Deeney and his teammates in the first half may have been too much as the Hornets looked gassed by the time the second Arsenal goal struck the net.
In addition to dropping off from the pace in the second half, Deeney failed to score his first goal of the Premier League season once again.
Deeney is doing plenty of good work around the field for Watford right now, but they will continue to suffer disappointing results if he can't break his scoreless streak.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
