LEAGUE-LEADERS Liverpool turned up at Vicarage Road on Saturday seeking a record-breaking win, but Watford had other ideas as they ran out emphatic 3-0 winners.

Victory for the Reds would have meant them setting a new Premier League record of 19 consecutive wins, but Jurgen Klopp was gracious in defeat: “We didn’t perform as well as we should have and we didn’t create enough chances, but congratulations to Watford. I am surprised that they are fighting to stay in the league.”

Hornets boss Nigel Pearson rightly praised his troops, but insisted that there is more work to be done. “It’s fantastic to beat possibly the best club side in the world at the moment. But it’s just one game and we have 10 games left in which we have to emulate what we have done today.”

Liverpool’s first opening of any note surprisingly came in the 19th minute. Watford cleared a Liverpool corner only as far Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose chipped ball back into the box was fired into the side netting by Mohammed Salah.

Things looked dire for Watford when their main attacking threat was removed from the game — Gerard Deulofeu stretchered off just before half time with a horror knee injury.

Ismaila Sarr tested Alisson early in the second half with a shot that was expertly tipped over the crossbar for a corner. But, in the 54th minute, the Liverpool keeper was given no chance when Sarr slid home the opener from close range, thanks to Abdoulaye Doucoure’s low ball across the six-yard box.

And it was Sarr who doubled the home side’s lead six mins later, latching onto a Troy Deeney slide-rule pass and sprinting away from the Liverpool defence to deftly dink the ball over the out-rushing Liverpool keeper.

Watford’s third came in the 72nd minute, courtesy of a misplaced Alexander-Arnold back-pass which was intercepted by the completely unplayable Sarr.

The Senegalese forward showed composure to lure Allison out of the goal-mouth and he returned the favour by finding Deeney on the edge of the penalty area. The Watford captain calmly placed his shot over the despairing lunge of Virgil Van Dijk and into the unguarded net — a strike that confirmed Liverpool’s first defeat in the league this season.