Watford’s battle for Premier League survival suffered a blow as goals from Raphinha, Rodrigo and Jack Harrison earned Leeds United a 3-0 win at Vicarage Road.

Brazil international Raphinha opened the scoring midway through the first half with an edge-of-the-box strike that crashed in off the post and past Ben Foster, but the Hornets responded with a string of good opportunities.

Ismaïla Sarr had arguably the best chances to equalise either side of the break in what was a bruising and hard-fought encounter for large parts, but Rodrigo netted in the 73rd minute to put the result beyond doubt, and Harrison put gloss on the scoreline five minutes before the death.

A 21st defeat of the season leaves Watford six points adrift of safety with seven games of the season remaining, and the attention of manager Roy Hodgson and his players will now swiftly turn to next weekend’s home clash against Brentford (Saturday April 16, 3pm KO).

Following a minute’s applause in honour of former Watford defender Bill Shipwright, the game began at a frantic pace, with both sides aware of the importance of getting a result in the wake of Everton’s earlier win over Manchester United.

There were early openings at both ends of the pitch although ultimately without reward, with a clever one-two between Kiko Femenía and Moussa Sissoko nearly fashioning a chance for the Hornets before Ben Foster comfortably dealt with a tentative Raphinha effort.

Luke Ayling blasted a header over the crossbar for the visitors on the 10-minute mark, but Watford enjoyed the first real opportunity of the afternoon soon after with Imrân Louza firing a free-kick just off target from 20 yards.

Cucho Hernández drilled a free-kick of his own into the box from near the corner flag, and after Illan Meslier deflected the ball out of play Christian Kabasele was denied by the French goalkeeper at point-blank range from the resultant set-piece.

But it was Leeds who took the lead in the 21st minute, 25-year-old Raphinha making the most of a fortunate deflection to curl a shot in off the post and make it 1-0 from the edge of the penalty area.

Watford did their best to respond after going behind with Juraj Kucka and Hernández both seeing speculative shots fizz over the bar, before the latter was forced off through injury six minutes before the break, being replaced by Emmanuel Dennis.

Meslier did well to block Sarr one-on-one before the referee’s assistant raised his flag for offside, and though the Golden Boys piled the pressure on at the end of the first period with two corners in quick succession, Leeds held on to go into the interval in front.

Watford burst out of the blocks after the restart with a curling Femenía corner troubling Meslier early on, but the game’s momentum remained largely in the balance with some neat Raphinha trickery spearheading Leeds’ ongoing threat.

João Pedro and Sarr both powered shots off target around the hour as the Hornets pushed for an equaliser, and then Kucka tried his luck but screwed his tame effort wide of the upright.

Then, largely against the run of play, Leeds doubled their advantage through Rodrigo, with the Spain international profiting from a defensive mix-up between Hassane Kamara and Samir, before rounding Foster and poking home.

Sissoko led the push as Watford refused to lie down deep into the second half, but as Hodgson’s men searched for a route back into the game, away attacker Harrison made it three for Leeds close to full-time with a clinical left-footed strike that secured the three points for his side.