Dennis ready to “play anywhere” after ‘Man of the Match’ display against Man United

Watford’s Nigerian forward Emmanuel Dennis says he is ready to play anywhere in the front three after he guided the Hornets to a historic 4-1 Premier League win against Manchester United on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Nigeria international was named man of the match in Watford’s thumping of the Red Devils at Vicarage Road as he scored and then set up two goals to hand United their heaviest league defeat against a newly-promoted club since September 1989 when they suffered a 5-1 loss to Manchester City.

It was Joshua King who fired Watford ahead with his first home goal for the club in the 28th minute after benefiting from a Dennis assist before Senegal international Ismaila Sarr, who had missed a penalty in the 11th minute, doubled the lead in the 44th minute for a 2-0 half-time scoreline.

Donny van de Beek then halved United’s deficit in the 50th minute, but they were reduced to 10-men in the 69th minute when Harry Maguire was shown his second yellow card after a clumsy foul and then Dennis set up Joao Pedro for the third in the 92nd minute.

Dennis then put the cherry on the cake after another United defensive blunder to seal maximum points for the hosts in stoppage time.

The Super Eagle played in the centre of attack with King on the left flank for the first time this season and he has expressed his readiness to play anywhere in the front three for as long as the Hornets win matches.

“I can play anywhere in the front three, it’s okay to me and I did the job,” a jubilant Dennis told the club’s official website after the game.

“I’m very happy, we deserved to win. Winning was the only thing in our heads, we kept going and got a very important three points.

“We kept going, I missed the chance before the penalty, I could have scored but we kept going and I got a goal!”

Dennis has now scored four goals and recorded five assists in 11 league appearances for the Hornets this season.

On Pedro notching his first Premier League goal, Dennis said: “I’m really happy for him. He was emotional, which is normal, this is the Premier League. I’m happy I could give him the assist.

“I was running and I thought Cucho [Hernandez] was going to chest it to me but he took it for himself. The defender was on Cucho so I took the ball, I knew he was going to stay with Cucho, and then the good finish.

“It [the win] was really important with the big games coming up, we’re really happy.”