Watford were undone by a brief lapse in concentration as they were beaten 1-0 by Tottenham, despite a performance that was both organised and spirited.

Heung-Min Son’s free kick was allowed to sail all the way into the net and opened the scoring right at the end of the first half after the Hornets had worked hard to nullify the unquestionable talent in Spurs' attacking ranks.

There was a fair bit of talent on show in Xisco Munoz's side too as he fielded arguably his strongest team of the season, with four changes to the team that were comfortably beaten in their last league outing away at Brighton.

Francisco Sierralta kept his place in the team at the expense of Christian Kabasele, after impressing against Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, while Juraj Kucka passed a late fitness test to return to the midfield in place of Imran Louza, who had looked beyond his comfort zone in last weekend’s defeat.

New signing Moussa Sissoko made his debut just two days after signing for the Hornets, while Joshua King was drafted into a front three, with Tom Cleverley and Ken Sema dropping to the bench.

In the opposite starting XI, the only change from their win over Wolverhampton Wanderers came up front with Kane starting his first league game after questions surrounding his future were finally answered. Lucas Moura gave way to accommodate the England striker’s return.

Kane was involved in the game’s first flash point after just 14 seconds when Steven Bergwijn headed a scuffed Daniel Bachmann clearance into his feet but Peter Etebo reacted well and fairly shrugged him off the ball, much to the dismay of the home fans who felt they ought to have been awarded a penalty.

A minute had still not ticked by when Watford registered their first shot of the game, with Sissoko laying the ball into Kucka in space on the edge of the area at the end of a swift counter attack down the left.

Eric Dier threw himself in front of the ball to nod behind before it could reach Hugo Lloris’ goal.

A couple of half chances came Spurs’ way as they began to dictate the rhythm of the contest, with Kane scuffing a chipped effort over the bar and Craig Cathcart blocking Bergwijn’s strike in the box after a neatly constructed move down the right.

But the Hornets were keen to remind their hosts that they were capable of causing problems too. Ismaila Sarr stung the gloves of Lloris with a shot on a tight angle, although he was unlikely to have been beaten at his front post.

At the other end Bachmann had his first save of the game to make from Japhet Tanganga after Son’s corner ricocheted kindly into the full-back’s path, but the Austrian got down well to save with his feet.

Watford’s counter attacking strategy was producing one or two glimpses of attacking potential, although they were more or less feeding on scraps in terms of actual chances.

Dennis squirmed away from Sanchez on the left, but had his shot blocked by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, before King was unable to control the rebound in the centre.

Then a trip on Kucka presented another chance Dennis’ way, but the striker lashed the dead ball high into the stands.

Dier then did a bit better with his free kick shot at the other end, just before the half-hour mark, getting it on target, but it was fired straight into Bachmann’s gloves.

In the build up to the game, Munoz spoke of the importance of his side staying narrow in defence and not allowing the likes of Son and Kane room to operate in the box.

A crowded Watford penalty area prevented the Spurs forwards from finding a comfortable effort after some threatening-looking build up play, resulting in the South Korean dragging a tame shot wide.

Ten minutes before the break, another clear sight of goal was prevented with further compact defending, with Dele Alli this time shooting from range out of frustration at the lack of a clear route to goal. This time Bachmann saved comfortably.

However, just as it looked like Watford had worked out how to prevent their hosts from scoring, a dreadful moment at the back tore up the hard defensive work that had preceded it.

A poor foul on Bergwijn from Craig Cathcart gifted Spurs a free kick on the corner of the 18-yard box and Son’s curled delivery was completely missed by all in the centre and bounced past Bachmann into the far corner of the net, ensuring the visitors would be on the back foot for the second half.

Things were made a little more difficult for Munoz’s men immediately after the restart when Cathcart was forced off with an injury. Jeremy Ngakia was brought on in his place.

The first two chances of the second half did go the Hornets’ way however, with Sarr first shrugging off a half-hearted attempt at a tackle from Serge Reguilon before pulling back into the path of Kucka, who lashed wildly over the top.

Ngakia then provided a similar ball for Sarr, who was loitering on the corner of the six-yard box, but Sanchez bravely blocked and Lloris was able to collect without any real peril.

Spurs still looked dangerous on the attack however and almost doubled their lead from another Son set piece, with Sanchez meeting a corner delivery at the near post with an improvised back heel effort, but couldn’t guide it on target.

Son was then given room to shoot outside the box just before the hour mark, but curled his shot straight at Bachmann, who this time held onto the ball.

Watford's best hope of getting back into the game laid in the hands of Sarr, who continued to cause problems down Tottenham’s left.

After jinking away from Sanchez, the winger cut back into the feet of Sissoko, presenting him with a chance to score on his return to his former club.

However, the Frenchman got his effort horribly wrong and found the back of the stands rather than the back of the net.

Spurs should have doubled their lead in the 67th minute when an uncharacteristic slip in the centre from Kucka invited Son, Kane and Alli to mount a counter attack.

The goalscorer slipped the ball out wide to the England striker, whose cross was met in the middle by Alli, but he just couldn’t guide his effort on target.

Nuno Espirito wanted his side to put the game beyond their visitors and introduced Lucas Moura for Steven Bergwijn.

The Brazilian nearly made the impact requested of him moments after his introduction after he burst into the area and lashed a shot across the face of goal that Bachmann had to turn behind.

The keeper was called upon again shortly after when a Hojbjerg free kick took a big deflection off Kucka and was heading for the bottom corner of the net, but for the Austrian’s improvised intervention.

Kane had two great chances to mark his return to action with a goal, but was twice thwarted.

First William Troost-Ekong got a telling touch onto Moura's cross to prevent the striker from finishing into an empty goal. 

From the resulting corner, Kane fired goalwards, but Bachmann denied and the game finished 1-0.

TEAM: Bachmann; Cathcart (Ngakia), Troost-Ekong, Sierralta, Masina; Etebo, Kucka, Sissoko (Cleverley); Dennis, Sarr, King (Hernandez)
SUBS: Elliot, Rose, Louza, Sema, Fletcher, Kabasele