Watford confirm Nigel Pearson sacking, Hayden Mullins appointed interim coach

ByEurosport

Updated 19/07/2020 at 19:52 GMT

Watford have confirmed the sacking of Nigel Pearson, just two games before the end of the Premier League season.

Nigel Pearson

Image credit: Getty Images

Hayden Mullins, with Graham Stack as his assistant, will take charge of those games against Manchester City and Arsenal.

The final straw appears to be Watford's dismal 3-1 defeat to West Ham on Friday which left the Hornets three points above the relegation zone.

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Watford confirmed the news on Sunday evening, although it was a belated announcement after multiple reports had broken earlier in the day.

Pearson had criticised himself and his players following the loss to West Ham, saying:

We’ve missed an opportunity. We’ve not done what we talked about doing, or looked at doing, and that’s a difficult situation. We have to go and completely make sure that we bounce back in the last two games now, it’s fairly straightforward.

"The players and the staff are in this together, so I’m not going to be, especially on an individual level, overly critical. The players know themselves we’ve let an opportunity pass us by."

Pearson, 56, was appointed Watford manager in December, becoming the club's third head coach of the season after Javi Gracia and Quique Sanchez Flores.

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