ARSENAL overcame Watford at Ashburton Grove yesterday after an own goal from Craig Cathcart and a close-range finish from Mesut Ozil secured the points for the Gunners in the final stages of the game.

Javi Gracia’s men will feel hard done by as they more than matched Arsenal in every department.

“What can I say today? I am very upset for my players because I think they deserved more, a better result,” began the Watford boss.

“We had a very good performance, more shots, more shots on target, a lot of clear chances to score, but, if you don’t score, you can lose.”

The mood in the ground was full of nerves and apprehension as Watford played with a high line and pressed Arsenal high up the pitch, with the likes of Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira hassled on their every touch.

After a goalless first-half, Watford were very unfortunate not to go a goal up after the interval as Troy Deeney’s side-footed finish was well saved by Bernd Leno. 

The German goalkeeper was making his Premier League debut following an injury to Petr Cech at half-time.

Andre Gray was replaced just after forcing the German stopper into another save, this time as the forward went through on goal.

Gray was replaced by Isaac Success and the chances kept coming as the Nigerian forward had his own one-on-one opportunity wasted as his attempted dink over Leno went inches wide of the post.

Unai Emery changed things by hauling off Aaron Ramsey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in place of Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi who added impetus to a performance lacking in such.

Iwobi was the provider of the cross which lead to Cathcart’s own goal and moments later was instrumental in feeding Lacazette who laid it on a plate for Ozil to wrap the game up.

“They [Watford] are a very organised team, very competitive, finding their best performances with very good players,” said a full-of-praise Emery.

“The ball was near our box in a lot of moments and the rhythm in the match was not as quick as we want … patience was necessary today.”