5 Premier League Teams Dramatically Better Since The Restart (And 5 Much Worse)

It has been an undoubtedly shambolic season for last year's cup finalists, who were already on their third manager by the time the season was put on hold.

Nevertheless that third boss, Nigel Pearson, had managed to turn things around and get the team performing on a higher level. Just before the lockdown break Pearson's Watford had beaten Liverpool to ruin the Reds' hope for an invincible season. At the moment of postponement, Watford found themselves out of the relegation zone and level on points with West Ham just above them.

The Hornets came back from the restart, though, looking far more similar to the underwhelming performers that first kicked off the season than the more competitive team of just before the break.

Watford's post-lockdown season began with just a single point from three fairly winnable games in June and didn't get much better from there.

By mid-July and the club parting company with their manager for the third time, relegation seemed a distinct possibility once again.

Whatever the thinking behind Pearson's sacking (a prickly, controversial character, he always has the possibility of stirring up trouble behind the scenes regardless of results on the pitch), it certainly didn't improve Watford's results.

With ten goals conceded in three back-to-back defeats in their final games, Watford's poor form since the break condemned them to relegation on the belated final day of the season.