Watford threw away an early lead to lose 5-1 against Leicester City in what was their last Premier League match at Vicarage Road for at least a season.

Joao Pedro’s sixth minute opener was cancelled out by James Maddison as the away side turned the game on its head in a madcap four minutes, with Jamie Vardy adding the second.

Harvey Barnes scored just seconds after the restart to extend the lead and Vardy rubbed salt in the wounds with 20 minutes remaining. The thrashing was confirmed with Barnes' second five minutes from time.

The Hornets were forced to make one change after the 0-0 draw with Everton on Wednesday night, with Craig Cathcart replacing Samir after he was injured during the warm-up. Hassane Kamara returned to the bench having served a suspension for his red card at Crystal Palace.

Visitors Leicester made three changes to their starting XI, with Kasper Schmeichel dropping to the bench along with Daniel Amartey and Ademola Lookman, they were replaced by Danny Ward, Wesley Fofana and Nampalys Mendy.

Ahead of kick off, new head coach Rob Edwards was presented to the Vicarage Road faithful, along with assistant Richie Kyle. The pair will take over from Roy Hodgson and Ray Lewington as soon as this season concludes away at Chelsea next weekend, tasked with the job of getting the Hornets back to the Premier League, preferably at the first attempt.

The first glimpse of their new side was a positive one, with Pedro finding the breakthrough at the start of a breathless first half with only five minutes on the clock. However it wouldn’t last, as old habits returned to haunt a team who have not won once at home since November.

It looked as if those demons might had been laid to rest when a Samuel Kalu corner ricocheted kindly off Youri Tielemans and Pedro’s instinctive effort found the net, despite Timothy Castagne’s best efforts to keep it out.

The positivity continued with another corner six minutes later that almost brought a second goal. This time it was Ken Sema’s delivery that caused problems for the Foxes, with Adam Masina unmarked at the back post. Despite the ball falling kindly for the Moroccan international, he was unable to keep his effort down and it flicked away off the crossbar.

Pedro could have doubled his and his team’s tally a moment after when he met Jeremy Ngakia’s low cross from the right, just six yards out, but Ward pulled off a terrific save down to his left to keep the score down.

With quarter of an hour gone, Leicester finally created their first chance to hit back, with Maddison curling a wild shot over the bar from distance. However, he was much less profligate with his second chance just a minute later, as the Hornets once again contributed to their own downfall.

Cathcart and Masina showed a clear lack of communication as they collided with one another trying to defend a high ball, leaving Tielemans to square to Maddison as Foster charged off his line to narrow the angle. The England international had the simple task of turning into an empty net.

Watford then found themselves behind just four minutes after, with Maddison this time turning provider. His long ball from deep picked out Vardy on the edge of the area, and his header looped over the top of the on-rushing Foster and nestled into the vacated goal.

Two almost became three only five minutes later when Castagne was picked out by a cutback from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, but the Belgian skewed his effort high into the Rookery End.

Castagne had a better chance to find the net after the half-hour mark when Vardy rolled the ball into his path as he charged away from Masina down the right, but Foster stood firm in the face of his effort and kept it out.

Two chances to level came the Hornets’ way before the break, with Pedro first collecting the ball on the edge of the visitors’ box, but he couldn’t keep his shot down and curled into the away fans behind the goal.

Kalu then should have found the net when a cross caused a mix-up between Ward and his defenders leaving the ball to drop invitingly in front of the Nigerian, only for him to mis-hit his effort.

Both sides made changes at half time, with the injured Gosling and Mendy replaced by Hassane Kamara and Marc Albrighton respectively.

Watford’s change saw them shift formation with Kamara and Jeremy Ngakia playing as wing backs alongside a back three, including Masina on the left of the centre.

Their new shape came unstuck a mere 23 seconds into the half, with Albrighton’s first touch swinging dangerously into the box where Barnes smashed beyond Foster to make it 3-1.

A fourth goal looked like it wouldn't be far behind as Dewsbury-Hall slipped Vardy in behind the hosts' defence, only for the striker to lash into the side-netting. 

Dewsbury-Hall had a shot of his own shortly after, but curled inches wide with Foster beaten.

At the other end, Pedro continued to look Watford's best attacking outlet and the Brazilian found space for a shot again on the hour mark, but his effort on the end of Moussa Sissoko's threaded pass was well saved by Ward.

The Foxes' wait for a fourth was ended in the 70th minute when Vardy got his second of the match. Barnes' searching ball was missed by Cathcart's hopeful swing of the leg and the striker passed into the bottom corner from the one-on-one.

Kabasele headed over from Sema's corner as Watford looked to make the scoreline slightly more palatable, after Ward had to push Ngakia's cross/shot away at his near post. Pedro also forced a save out of the keeper after cutting in from the left.

The Brazilian had another effort beaten out by the Wales number one, after Kalu had slipped him in down the right, before Kabasele again was unable to get his header on target from the corner.

Peter Etebo replaced Ken Sema, while Vardy made way to allow Patson Daka a ten minute run out, but the scoreline by that point meant that there was an air of resignation about the game's closing stages.

But there was still time for Barnes to rubber stamp the defeat with a fifth goal five minutes from time, leaving Watford with a home record of 15 defeats, two wins and two draws from their 19 league games at Vicarage Road this season.

While Edwards may have been given a positive reception from the Watford supporters ahead of kick off, with so many performances like this one at the Vic this season, he may have his work cut out to once again bring a truly good feeling back to Watford once his job properly begins.

TEAM: Foster; Ngakia, Kabasele, Cathcart, Masina; Kayembe, Sissoko, Gosling (Kamara); Kalu, Sema (Etebo), Pedro
Unused substitutes: Bachmann, Troost-Ekong, Sierralta, Baah, Morris, Cukur