Watford 0-4 Burnley: Clarets end 241-day wait with emphatic championship win

Burnley ended a 241-day wait for a league victory in emphatic fashion as they dismantled Watford 4-0 at Vicarage Road, climbing off the foot of the Championship table with a dominant first-half display that left the home side and their under-pressure manager Alessio Dionisi reeling.

Jacob Bruun Larsen, Zeki Amdouni, Reo Hatate and Marcus Edwards were the scorers as Nicky Hayen’s side finally claimed their first three points of the season, ending a barren run that stretched back to a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace in February. The result also delivered Burnley’s first clean sheet since March and lifted them to 22nd, though they remain inside the relegation zone.

Watford, already without a clean sheet for 29 weeks, simply had no answer to Burnley’s intensity and pressing. The visitors needed only 13 minutes to take the lead. After Watford gifted possession deep in their own half, Hatate slipped a pass through for Bruun Larsen, who opened up his body and curled a fine right-footed finish across Federico Ravaglia into the far corner for his first Burnley goal since May 2024.

Six minutes later it was 2-0. Bruun Larsen’s fierce volley was brilliantly parried by Ravaglia, but Amdouni reacted quickest to scramble the rebound over the line for his third goal in four matches. The Swiss forward’s clinical finish left Watford’s defence in disarray.

Worse was to follow for the Hornets before the half-hour mark. Sumptuous build-up play ended with Lucas Pires delivering a cross that almost turned into an own goal; Hatate was afforded far too much space and guided a composed finish into the corner to make it 3-0 after 25 minutes. Travelling Clarets fans, sensing the long-awaited breakthrough, chanted “Burnley are back” and “we are staying up” while home supporters turned their anger on Dionisi and the board.

Watford made an early change in the 35th minute and two more at the break, but the damage was already done. Coudert produced important saves to deny Mamadou Doumbia either side of half-time, including one from a weak Ramazani back-pass that almost handed the hosts a lifeline. Yet Burnley’s lead never looked under serious threat.

Hayen introduced Jamie Vardy and Edwards just after the hour, and the latter almost made an instant impact. Pires forced a strong save from Ravaglia, Edwards saw a close-range effort blocked on the line, and the substitute later tested the keeper with a free-kick from a tight angle. Dastan Satpayev, returning from injury, also went close before the visitors finally added a fourth in the 87th minute. Edwards watched the ball drop out of the sky and lashed a delicious first-time volley into the far corner, a goal his lively performance thoroughly deserved and a fitting way to put the seal on a memorable afternoon.

Vardy had the ball in the net late on only to be denied by the offside flag, but it mattered little. Burnley had finally won, and the relief was palpable. For Watford, a fifth defeat in six games piles further pressure on Dionisi after another toothless and error-strewn display at home.