Five Of The Best: The Hornets And The Swans

The Hornets host Swansea City on Wednesday (March 6, 7.45pm KO) as they look to return to winning ways in the Sky Bet Championship.

Ahead of the game, we've taken a look at some of the memorable matches contested between the Hornets and the Swans.

The Hornets went into their Fourth Division home fixture against the Swans on the back of an impressive start to the 1977/78 campaign, their first with Graham Taylor in charge.

Watford sat top of the league after 11 matches, and would further extend their lead at the summit with a 2-1 victory over Swansea, extending their winning run to five.

Goals from Keith Mercer and Bobby Downes were enough to seal the win, with the Hornets continuing their impressive form to eventually see the side lift the title, earning promotion alongside Swansea, who ended ths season in third.

Following both sides' promotion in 1977/78, it seemed the two teams could not be separated as they both enjoyed unprecendented rises to the top tier of English football.

In just five seasons, both Watford and Swansea had progressed from the Fourth Division to the First Division, meaning what was a fourth-tier fixture as late as March 1978 became a top-tier one as early as September 1982.

The newly-promoted Hornets welcomed the Swans, now in their second top-flight season, early in the campaign, with Graham Taylor's side making it three wins out of four matches thanks to goals from Luther Blissett and Nigel Callaghan.

After the 1982/83 season, the two sides would not meet again in the top flight until the 2015/16 campaign, with the Hornets ending an eight-year absence from the Premier League.

Watford were searching for a first win, having started the campaign with three draws. They headed into the home match against Swansea City on the back of their first defeat, away to Manchester City.

Quique Sanchez Flores' side bounced back in the perfect way, picking up a first victory in the top tier since 2007 thanks to Odion Ighalo's second-half strike. The Hornets even survived more than 25 minutes with 10 men after Valon Behrami's red card.

After no top-flight meetings in over 32 years, Watford and Swansea faced off in the Premier League for a third successive season when the Hornets made the trip to South Wales in September 2017.

However, Watford had yet to pick up a victory away at Swansea in the Premier League, with this winless run looking set to be extended after Andre Gray's early strike was cancelled out in the second half by Tammy Abraham, and the clock showing 90 minutes.

There was time for one more attack, and a bit of luck from Richarlison saw the Brazilian get past Alfie Mawson and into the box, before smashing his effort off both Lukas Fabianski's glove and the crossbar to earn the victory, sending the away fans into wild celebration.

There was a sense of celebration in the air as the Hornets took to the pitch for the final time in the 2020/21 season, probably helped by the pyrotechnics that greeted the already-promoted Hornets.

They faced a Swansea side with their sights firmly set on an upcoming play-off campaign, but Watford made sure they still completed the job as Sir Elton John looked on from the otherwise empty stands due to the Covid pandemic.

Second-half goals from Andre Gray and Isaac Success earned the three points in a 2-0 win, meaning the side surpassed their points total from the last promotion in 2014/15. The clean sheet also ensured a little bit of history, marking the joint-fewest goals conceded in a Championship season.