Watford's winning streak was ended in a frustrating display away at Bournemouth in which they were beaten 1-0 and both sides finished the game with ten men.

An Arnaut Danjuma strike midway through the second half was enough to divide the teams come full time, as the Hornets lacked the requisite inventiveness to break down the Cherries' strong defence and showed that they still have problems when playing away from Vicarage Road.

Joao Pedro and Jack Wilshere were both sent off amid ugly scenes at the end of the match.

The Hornets took form and confidence into the match having scored 12 goals in their previous four matches, while the Cherries had stalled in recent weeks, losing their last two and slipping out of the playoff places.

Xisco Munoz looked to maintain that confidence by once again making as few changes as possible. William Troost-Ekong and Dan Gosling were the only two not to keep their place in the starting XI from the win at Blackburn on Wednesday night, with Craig Cathcart and Nathaniel Chalobah returning in their place.

However, it was the visitors who struggled to really get going following a positive opening, while Bournemouth made enough of an improvement in the second half to take all three points. 

Watford started by taking the game to their hosts, attacking down both wings with real intent. Adam Masina perhaps should have done better just three minutes into the contest when Kiko Femenia’s cross was punched away unconvincingly by Asmir Begovic, only for the left-back to head wide on the rebound.

The Hornets’ early momentum then quickly waned as Bournemouth established themselves in the game, making it a much more evenly-contested fixture, with few discernible opportunities to open the scoring.

Junior Stanislas might have troubled Daniel Bachmann when he squirmed away from Francisco Sierralta in the box midway through the half, but he lost his footing right at the moment he should have pulled the trigger and the chance went begging.

At the other end Ken Sema failed to keep a volley down as a disciplined Bournemouth defence frustrated Watford’s attack, preventing them from creating any significant moments of jeopardy.

The Cherries crafted one such moment of their own just after the half-hour mark when they made the most of an advantage to work the ball out to Lloyd Kelly on the left of the penalty area. His swerving effort required a strong palm from Bachmann to keep it out of the net.

No such intervention was needed when Will Hughes tried to place a shot into the net from the edge of the area moments later, as the ball sailed high over the bar.

An Ismaila Sarr effort from further out suffered the same fate shortly before half time, with Bournemouth continuing to block all clear routes to their net.

The second half continued in a similar vein, with Watford looking indecisive in attack against that solid Bournemouth defence.

The Cherries however stepped up their efforts in attack with Danjuma starting to cause problems for the Hornets.

First the Dutchman was prevented from scoring by a timely intervention from Sierralta, while Bachmann was on hand to palm away a shot after he had got in behind for a second time.

Cleverley was denied by Begovic with a similar shot soon after as the game started to open up, suggesting a first goal would arrive before long.

That opener came shortly after the hour mark when the Hornets switched off and allowed Danjuma to run in behind once again to latch onto a long ball and beat the on-rushing Bachmann to break the deadlock.

Ten minutes later, Sarr went close to levelling the tie when he beat Kelly with a great first touch, only to fire wide of the near post.

The Senegalese then almost benefitted from a mistake by Begovic who dropped a flicked on header from Sema, but the keeper recovered before Sarr could claim the loose ball.

Munoz brought on Dan Gosling, Achraf Lazaar and Stipe Perica as he looked to turn the tie in his favour, but none of them were able to influence the game enough to restore parity, with a shot from Lazaar that cleared the stand behind Begovic's goal the closest any of them came. 

Things were made worse in the final moments of stoppage time when Pedro saw red after picking up a second yellow.

A huge scuffle broke out as a result during which Wilshere was also dismissed for a second bookable offence, despite having only been on the field for around ten miunutes. He had previously been cautioned for time wasting.

The defeat gives those around Watford in the table the chance to put some distance between themselves the Hornets, who will have to try and get back to winning ways on Wednesday against Wycombe Wanderers.

They'll be without Pedro and Chalobah, both of whom will be suspended.