After a turbulent season with Club Brugge culminating to his being loaned to FC Cologne where he had a terrible time, Watford however took a surprise gamble on Emmanuel Dennis. The Nigerian seems to have found a home at Vicarage Road having been directly involved in nine goals for Watford this season, second only to Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah
Emmanuel Dennis’ latest exploit for The Hornets was during last Saturday’s complete outclass of the Red Devils, and there was no other player on the pitch who made as much impact as the Nigerian attacker.
The Super Eagles forward got the last goal as Watford sealed a memorable 4-1 win over Manchester United at the Vicarage Road.
Joshua King, Ismaïla Sarr, and João Pedro were all on the scoresheet on a beautiful afternoon where the Hornets could have scored more.
However, Dennis’ impact, which included two assists, put him head and shoulder above others, earning him an unrivalled 8.1 Sofascore rating and the man-of-the-match award.
On a day when everything went perfectly for the Nigerian, Dennis made three key passes (joint-most with teammates Louza and Adam Masina), created one big chance, completed two of his six attempted dribbles, and won six of 13 duels.
He also made two interceptions, three recoveries and pressed Man United 21 times, the most of any Hornets’ players.
With four goals and five assists in 833 minutes spread across 11 Premier League games, Dennis has now been directly involved in nine goals for Watford this season. Only Mohamed Salah (11 goals and seven assists) has more goal involvements in the division.
With his tally, Dennis is currently joint-fourth in the assists table and inside the top 10 for goals this season in the Premier League.
These are quite impressive numbers for a player who flopped in the German Bundesliga with FC Cologne last season and was considered surplus to requirements at Club Brugge in Belgium.
Before his goal against the Red Devils, Dennis had found the back of the net in away victories at Everton, Norwich City, and the home win over Aston Villa in mid-August.
Dennis’ one-goal-and-two-assists performance against United was a repeat of a similar display in the 5-2 thrashing of the Toffees in late October.
Dennis’ skill-sets seem perfectly cut for the Premier League, and the Nigerian international could be even more decisive for Watford as manager Claudio Ranieri looks to turn the Hornets into a tough-to-beat outfit.
The Hornets’ signing of Dennis from Club Brugge raised a few eyebrows owing to the underwhelming nature of the forward’s last campaign, which included a rather torrid spell in the Bundesliga with Koln.
Dennis, whose finest hour to date were those pair of goals against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu however justified his signing by scoring the first goal in the Premier League win against Aston Villa.
After the match, the Nigerian said playing alongside Ismaila Sarr would be vital for his success this season.
“We get along well in training when we play together and I know he’s going to be really important for me if I’m going to be in the number nine,” Dennis told the club website.
“I’m really happy with the combination. It’s a process, so I’m really happy we started in a good way and we keep working.”
After just 10 minutes of the match, Dennis had swept the ball beneath Emiliano Martinez in the Villa goal to open his Watford account and it’s a moment he says he will never forget.
“I’ll remember this for all my life,” he added.
“I’m speechless; I don’t know what to say. We have energy, I’m really happy because we’ve been working hard for a really long time so I’m happy we could give the fans a good performance and they can go home smiling.”
The 24-year-old who played on the left and later up top stated after the game that he is comfortable in any position.
Dennis said, “I can play anywhere in the front three, it’s okay to me and I did the job.
“I’m very happy, we deserved to win. Winning was the only thing in our heads, we kept going and got a very important three points.
“We kept going, I missed the chance before the penalty, I could have scored but we kept going and I got a goal!
“It (the win) was really important with the big games coming up, we’re really happy,” Dennis added.
He went on to dissect how he got involved with the last two goals which sealed the three points.
About Joao Pedro’s goal, Dennis said, “I’m really happy for him,
“He was emotional, which is normal, this is the Premier League. I’m happy I could give him the assist.
On his goal, Dennis added, “I was running and I thought Cucho Hernández was going to chest it to me but he took it for himself. The defender was on Cucho so I took the ball, I knew he was going to stay with Cucho, and then the good finish.”
Despite two goals in 23 appearances for Club Brugge and Köln, a challenging time in Germany and alleged attitude problems, Watford have taken a gamble on Dennis.
The forward made more than 90 appearances across all competitions for Club Brugge and delivered eye-catching performances in domestic competitions and the Champions League.
In the 2017-18 season, he featured prominently as the Black and Blue won the First Division A title and also helped the club finish as runner-up in the 2018-19 campaign.
Dennis has explained why he had to leave Belgian Pro League champions Club Brugge.
The Yola-born player had left the team bus in anger after he was denied his preferred seating position and he has since reflected on the last six months.
