Sean Dyche shows Watford the error of their ways as he returns to the club that sacked him and masterminds Burnley victory

Quique Sanchez Flores has seen his Watford side thud back down to bottom place ahead of a high-stakes game at Southampton on Saturday evening – and it is ironic that Sean Dyche’s tactics helped put him in that position.

Dyche was the first manager that the Watford owners sacked, when they took charge in 2012, but he has thrived since at Burnley. Dyche’s methods in Burnley’s 3-0 win at Watford on Saturday gave his team a bite that the home side lacked.

While Flores’s 5-3-2 appeared toothless here, Burnley’s rough-and-ready 4-4-2 – a rarity in the Premier League these days – eventually paid off.

Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes have been a prolific strike pair in this calendar year and both scored again. Wood showed impressive technique to hook in Burnley’s opening goal, then Barnes’s hunger earned the penalty that he scored to double the lead.

Watford striker Andre Gray, meanwhile, had another fruitless afternoon. Gray joined in summer 2017 from Burnley – and was replaced at a lower cost, by Dyche, with Wood.

Watford’s set-piece routines looked ineffective and – after they wasted a string of them at the start of the second half while it was 0-0 – Burnley exposed them with dangerous ones of their own. The home side looked disorganised while defending those. For the first goal, Jose Holebas was out-jumped at the back post then Craig Cathcart failed to be tight enough with his marking.

Flores’s men had been on the front foot during the first half but, once Burnley had gone ahead with the first shot they managed on target, the home side had the stuffing knocked out of them.

Watford had more than 60 per cent possession, and more shots than their opponents, but still managed to end up with a 3-0 loss.

Discussing facing them, Burnley defender Charlie Taylor said: “You could say they looked like a team short on confidence. Look, they’re down the bottom of the league and that’s never easy. It mounts up and adds extra pressure."