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Watford of England attacker, Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis continues waddling through lots of woes since his club’s decision to withdraw him from the Super Eagles’ squad to the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, as he was sent off in The Hornets’ latest match.
Fresh from a bout with injury right after returning to action in the wake of Watford’s insistence that he should not be part of AFCON 2021, on account of a late request for his presence made by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Dennis got the marching order on Friday and his side lost woefully.
Nigerian fans would continue mocking Dennis and The Hornets for his absence from the Eagles’ squad in Garoua, where the three-time African champions are soaring high and looking good to win the cup, but the former Zorya of Ukraine, Club Brugge of Belgium and FC Cologne of Germany star is wallowing in woes back in England.
The latest moment to forget came for the Adamawa State-born lad on a night his club fell 3-0 at home against Norwich City in the English Premier League, as The Canaries secured back-to-back wins in the EPL, to ignite their hopes of survival, with Josh Sargent scoring twice in their shock victory at Vicarage Road.
After a first half low on quality, Sargent lit up this relegation six-pointer with a finish worthy of deciding any contest as he readjusted his feet to produce a superb improvised finish to break the deadlock (51).
Watford manager Claudio Ranieri was in need of a spark, but there would be an 11-minute stoppage due to floodlight failure to further frustrate the hosts’ attempts to respond.
Megasportsarena.com reports further that, after the lengthy stoppage, it was Norwich who doubled their lead as Sargent rose above Hassane Kamara to give the Canaries daylight (74).
Dennis was already on a caution when things got even worse for the hosts as the forward was sent off for a second bookable offence having caught Max Aarons (78).
Norwich then put the seal on an impressive away display as Juraj Kucka turned The Canaries’ Nigerian-born attacker, Adam Idah’s cross into his own net in the second minute of stoppage time.
This could prove a damaging result for Ranieri, who has still only won two of 13 league games since taking charge, with this loss the seventh in eight matches.
The result moves Norwich out of the relegation zone for the first time this season on 16 points – two clear of Watford, who replace them in the bottom three, albeit having played two games fewer.
Dean Smith is the first Norwich coach to win back-to-back EPL matches with the club since Alex Neil in April 2016, and they will now feel confident of consolidating their place in the top flight.
On the other hand, The Hornets needed no reminding heading the game it is now two months since they last won a match – the 4-1 home win over Manchester United.
However, it was the visitors who made the stronger start with Milot Rashica blasting a free-kick into the wall and another opportunity off target.
Ranieri described this meeting as a “cup final” but warned his side victory would not guarantee survival, and his team slowly shook off their sluggishness to carve open a few half chances.
Watford’s problems mounted when Dennis – already booked for a poor first-half challenge on Pierre Lees-Melou – was late on Aarons in front of referee Mike Dean leading to an inevitable red card.
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