Grey and gloomy with a chance of goals. The forecast forgot to mention the fireworks but it was otherwise bang on the money at Vicarage Road.
Bournemouth inflicted a demoralising defeat on 10-man Watford, whose day went south because of a combination of dire defending and downright recklessness.
They can only have themselves to blame. Christian Kabasele’s first-half sending off was deserved and so was this substantial win for the visitors from the South Coast.
Josh King helped himself to two of the four goals, while Callum Wilson and young David Brooks contributed the others on a day to forget for Javi Gracia.
Last season, it took Bournemouth 16 games to get to 16 points. They have now reached that total in half as many rounds. It is too soon to start talking about Eddie Howe’s European tour but they are on the right track to avoiding a relegation scrap.
As for Watford, all you say is, well, what’s happened? They won their first four matches under Gracia, who was named manager of the month for August. They are now winless in four.
This is up there with the Premier League’s more unusual rivalries, considering one club hails from Hertfordshire and the other from Dorset.
It stems back to the 2014-15 season, when Bournemouth pipped Watford to the Championship title by a single point. Somewhat synthetic perhaps, but it added spice to this contest.
After 14 minutes, the visitors got their party started. Bournemouth won possession after a block by Adam Smith inside his own box and, 15 seconds later, they had the ball in the back of the net.
King charged down the left wing and crossed to the back post, finding Wilson. It should have been a tap-in for the striker but Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster saved superbly. Unfortunately for him, 21-year-old Brooks was there to finish the scraps.
This was no onslaught from minute naught to 90. Watford had their own chances and should have levelled through Craig Cathcart, though the centre back sent his free header wide.
Bournemouth’s Wilson then copied Cathcart. With no-one in yellow and black near him, the forward sent his own header into the stands after a cross by Brooks.
Yet they did not need to fret. Howe’s side soon had their second goal and were handed a man advantage for the remainder of the match too.
King had broken through and was tripped by Kabasele, who had already been booked for barging into Asmir Begovic after 11 minutes. The challenge was as clumsy as it was costly.
Referee Jonathan Moss did not hesitate to point to the penalty spot and produced a second yellow for Kabasele. King took it himself and scored, sending Foster the wrong way.
As well as being beaten to the title three years ago, there was another reason why Watford dislike Bournemouth. During their meeting at Dean Court in 2015, Gabriele Angella was harshly shown red after 26 seconds. There was nothing contentious about Kabasele’s sending off, however.
Before the break, it became 3-0. Brooks played a ball through to Wilson, who looked across to see the linesman’s flag stay down. The forward crossed to find King, who scored his second of the afternoon, this time heading beyond Foster.
Watford were in all sorts of trouble. Three goals down, a man down, spirits well and truly down. At the start of the second half, it got worse.
Ryan Fraser crossed, Wilson took a touch to chip the ball over Foster, and he tapped it in for 4-0 after 47 minutes.
Watford’s supporters headed for the exits. Bournemouth’s sang: ‘Easy, easy, easy.’ It really was.
