Emmanuel Dennis: Why Watford forward’s bright start should elicit some caution

It doesn’t get better than this, does it?

Watford began the opening day as one of the bookies’ favourites to end in the bottom three but stunned an ambitious Aston Villa 3-2 at Vicarage Road. They definitely weren’t expected to race into a 2-0 lead at half-time, neither did anyone think the Hornets would be 3-0 up after 67 minutes.

In the absence of last season’s top-scoring central striker Joao Pedro, returning supporters in Hertfordshire got a first look at new signing Emmanuel Dennis. It was a massive show of confidence from Xisco to start the ex-Club Brugge man in gameweek one at Troy Deeney’s expense.

The 33-year-old Englishman is a club captain and a known quantity. He puts himself about and gives everything on the pitch. Aside from Ismaila Sarr’s 28 goal contributions since 2019/20, nobody at the club has been more involved than the icon, who has netted 17 times and assisted five.

The expected decision would have been to start the burly forward up top against Dean Smith’s side.

After the opening 45 minutes, however, Dennis’ showing indicated why the Spaniard opted for him instead. A goal after just 10 minutes was just what the doctor ordered, especially as the Nigerian hadn’t netted since a DFB Pokal encounter for Koln in February.

Take away that strike in the German outfit’s cup exit at Jan Regensburg and his last goal of any kind was netted in Club Brugge’s Champions League victory at Zenit St. Petersburg in October 2020. As far as getting monkeys off one’s back goes, beating Emiliano Martinez after only 10 minutes was a relief.

His goal and assist helped to continue Watford’s impressive home record — the best in England’s top four divisions last season — which now stands at 10 wins on the trot.

His combination play with Sarr seems to be blossoming, too. It was the wide attacker who picked out Dennis for that opening goal (although Tyrone Mings’ initial block means the Senegal international doesn’t get an assist), the new signing then flicked Tom Cleverley’s pass round the corner for the winger whose shot was straight at Villa’s shot-stopper.

The pair combined again for Watford’s counter-attacking second, although a fortuitous block deceived Martinez to allow Xisco’s star player to score his first Premier League goal of the season.

“The most important thing is the team understands each other,” Munoz told the club’s official website. “We tried to create space for (Emmanuel) Dennis and [Ismaila] Sarr. It was a brilliant game as we could’ve scored more.

“We know how well he [Sarr] can play, and we know he is a top player. If he has space, he can beat anyone. I think Sarr, Dennis, and [Ken] Sema understand how to attack the space, especially today [Saturday].”

In just 65 minutes on the pitch, Dennis was involved in a staggering nine shot-creating actions (defined as dribbles, passes or fouls drawn that lead directly to a shot), outdoing every player at Vicarage Road.

For context, only Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney (11) had more in the opening gameweek of the season, although he notably played 90 minutes in the Gunners’ 2-0 defeat on Friday.

Of course, there will still be reservations over the frontman, whose rap sheet in Belgium and Germany raised eyebrows after a PL transfer was confirmed. An underwhelming temporary spell in the second half of last season prompted former Koln sporting director Horst Heldt to claim their risk in taking a gamble on the forward didn’t pay off in an interview with Mobil Express in June.

Having come off with an injury just after the hour mark, Watford supporters will hope it’s nothing too serious for the Nigerian who became the fourth Super Eagle to score on his Premier League debut—joining John Utaka, Peter Odemwingie and Odion Ighalo.

“I will remember this for all my life, I am really happy, I am really, really happy, I am speechless, I don’t know what to say, I am just really happy,” Dennis told Watford TV after the game.

He spoke further on his burgeoning understanding with Sarr: “I think we will do wonders together [me and Sarr], we train together in training, we always train together, and I know the combination will be very important for me if I am going to be the No.9 for the team, so I am really happy with the combination."

While they are expected to experience dips during the season, Xisco will hope Dennis and Sarr maintain a decent-to-good baseline performance as they hope to survive relegation.

Throw in the anticipated contribution of Deeney and Joao Pedro (after he returns from a knee injury) and the Hornets ought to have a fighting chance of avoiding an immediate drop to the Championship.

Dennis hasn’t silenced his critics just yet, but an opening day statement performance has put him on the path to eliminating initial reservations over Watford’s decision to bring him to Hertfordshire.