13th September 2025- Championship, Watford 0 Blackburn Rovers 1

Watford Observer Pre-Match articles: Blackburn preview: How Watford can find the balance between attack and defence

Sir Elton John will be present as Watford wear kit in his honour on Saturday

Pezzolano on ‘honour’ of meeting Sir Elton John and his favourite song

Team news: Mendy and Petris ready for Watford debuts but Chakvetadze return delayed

Paulo Pezzolano on squad depth: ‘The team will not be fixed, it will be evolving’

Valon Behrami discusses Tom Dele-Bashiru loan and why Pierre Dwomoh stayed

https://www.watfordfc.com/supporters/digital-digests

Watford Observer: AS IT HAPPENED: Watford 0-1 Blackburn Rovers

Match Report: Watford fall well short in 1-0 defeat to Blackburn

Five talking points as Watford fall to Rovers defeat

Paulo Pezzolano on Blackburn loss: ‘We lacked ideas – I take 100% responsibility’

Paulo Pezzolano on Watford’s midfield and why he made just two subs in Blackburn loss

Paulo Pezzolano praises ‘very brave’ Max Alleyne after starting him at left-back

BBC:Ryoya Morishita scored his first Blackburn goal on his full Championship debut to give Valerien Ismael’s side a valuable and deserved win at Watford.

Sky: Watford hustled but came up empty-handed on home turf. A sixth straight game without a clean sheet under new boss Paulo Pezzolano leaves them 17th in the Championship, two places behind the visitors, who needed a result after losing four of their first five matches across all competitions this season.

BHappy: The interval should have been a time to reset, but instead Rovers went ahead after a sharp move that caught Keben flat-footed leaving Morishita one-on-one to finish confidently. The visitors never looked in trouble thereafter; whilst we defended competently enough – Cantwell’s acrobatic attempt that skied another far-post cross the closest they came – we only managed a single shot on target ourselves, that a scuffed shot from Baah that Tóth fielded comfortably. Otherwise, with Kjerrumgaard scrapping but peripheral and nothing happening in the centre, our attacks too frequently consisted of Alleyne trying to find Baah with an overambitious pass in windy conditions.

Fran’s Watford Blog:  It had been the worst performance so far this season, particularly as there was so little in the way of attacking threat. The brightest spark was Kyprianou who had yet another excellent game. Petris put in a decent showing on his debut. Vata was the best of the attacking players in the first half as Baah couldn‘t get into the game. Irankunda livened things up when he came on, despite having flown half-way around the world after his appearance for Australia during the week.

From the Rookery End: Watford fell 1-0 at home to Blackburn on a day that was about much more than football. As the club looks ahead to celebrating Elton John’s 50th anniversary of becoming Owner and Chairman of the Hornets, the team took to the pitch in a striking Elton-inspired special blue kit. The game began brightly, but the spark never quite caught fire.