Watford went top of the Championship last night as they edged Burnley 1-0 at Vicarage Road.

Tom Cleverley gave the Hornets the lead on the brink of half-time, and despite a red card in the second half for Hassane Kamara, Watford held on to take all three points.

That takes the Hornets' tally from their opening three matches to seven points - a return head coach Rob Edward will surely be delighted with given the opposition that the club have faced in Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, and Burnley.

With the above in mind, here are three things we learnt about the Hornets during the match.

They're defensively resilient

One thing we certainly learned last night is that Watford will be a very defensively resilient side this season.

When the Hornets went down to ten men last night, and even before that, they were under pressure with Burnley seeking an equaliser and their ability to keep the opposition out was once again on display.

Sure, they rode their luck on the odd occasion, but with some fine defending and goalkeeping, they saw out the match, just as they did against West Brom on Monday.

These things don't happen by accident.

 

 

Daniel Bachmann is firmly first choice

Following the arrival of January signing Maduka Okoye this summer, many expected the Nigerian to be given the number one role.

However, Edwards has elected to put his faith in Daniel Bachmann, and so far, it has paid off.

The Austrian was excellent against West Brom on Monday and was so again last night, playing a key part in the Hornets taking all three points.

At the start of the season it felt like Okoye would be breathing down the neck of Bachmann for a place in the side, however, after another top display, surely Bachmann will be the number one at Vicarage Road for the long term this season.

They can cope without Dennis

Last but not least, we learned that Watford can still beat a top Championship side without one of their star forwards in Emmanuel Dennis.

Dennis' move to Nottingham Forest appears to be close to being completed with the Nigerian absent from Watford's squad last night.

We saw, though, in Ismaila Sarr, Joao Pedro, and Ken Sema that the Hornets still have the talent in attacking areas to take on any team in the Championship.

With the arrival of Keinan Davis on loan, too, it may be that Dennis' absence is felt very little, or at least not as much as people would expect when you lose a player of his talents.