Ten-man Fulham were beaten 5-0 by a devastating Watford side at Craven Cottage on Friday evening.

The Whites found them behind early on when Almen Abdi’s free-kick defected through the wall and into the back of the net, before Fulham were reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli denied Matej Vydra a clear goalscoring opportunity after he’d been put through.

Troy Deeney tucked away the subsequent penalty and grabbed his second and Watford’s third before the break to all but kill the game as a contest.

A stunning Abdi strike shortly after the restart added some further gloss to the scoreline for the visitors, before Deeney grabbed his hat-trick after breaking clear in stoppage time, on an evening that Whites supporters would rather forget.

Kit Symons made two changes to the side that defeated Brighton & Hove Albion six days previously, with Dan Burn returning from his ban to take the place of Shaun Hutchinson, while Seko Fofana was handed a full debut at the expense of Emerson Hyndman.

The game was preceeded with both teams coming together for a combined squad photo as part of Football Remembers week, aimed at recreating the spirit of togetherness that the troops of both sides demonstrated at Christmas during World War One in 1914.

Hugo Rodallega made sure Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes was alert on 45 seconds when he let fly first time from a good 35 yards, but the speculative effort was straight down the throat of the Brazilian who claimed comfortably.

The Hornets were then awarded a free-kick 25 yards from goal following a foul by Nikolay Bodurov. The decision was met with derision by the home fans who felt Fofana had been unfairly challenged just seconds earlier, and they would have been even more aggrieved had Bettinelli not pulled off a fine reflex save to keep out Daniel Tozser’s well-struck set-piece.

The subsequent corner was dangerous, too, with the ball flicked across goal and eventually cleared behind for another corner, which came to nothing.

In the seventh minute Deeney beat the offside trap to collect a long ball over the top which sent him through one-on-one before successfully lobbing Bettinelli. Thankfully, Kostas Stafylidis was on hand to make a fantastic acrobatic clearance off the line to save a certain goal.

Toszer was dictating the play for the hosts, who had started well, and his 14th minute swerver almost caught Bettinelli out but the Fulham stopper adjusted his body quickly to push the ball behind.

But just a minute later they did make the breakthrough. After winning a free-kick 20 yards from goal, Abdi smashed in a low strike that nicked off a man in the wall and beyond the reach of Bettinelli.

And things went from bad to disastrous on 18 minutes. Vydra was played in and rounded Bettinelli who caught his ankle as he went to claim the ball. Bryan Ruiz was the man sacrificed as Gabor Kiraly took his place between the sticks.

His first task was to face Deeney but the Watford captain won the battle of wits and sent him the wrong way to double Watford’s advantage.

With an extra man, the visitors dominated possession after that but it was Fulham who went closest to scoring the next goal on 29 minutes but Ross McCormack’s wicked cross was turned just wide by a Watford defender when it looked to be sailing in.

The third goal did go Watford’s way, though, when Gianni Munari’s headed through ball sent Deeney in behind, with the striker getting just enough of a toe on it to flick it beyond Kiraly.

A fine ball over the top sent Vydra into space on 43 minutes, but his powerful effort was beaten behind by Kiraly who watched it all the way, with Craig Cathcart then heading over from the resultant corner.

With just six minutes gone in the second half Fulham found themselves four goals down. Abdi was allowed time to shoot from 25 yards and he obliged with a stunning effort into the postage stamp of the goal.

Fulham came so close to pulling a goal back on the hour mark. Good skill by Lasse Vigen Christensen allowed him to cut the ball back to Rodallega, but Cathcart threw himself in front of the Colombian’s shot to prevent it finding the back of the net.

Symons then made his second substitution of the game, as Fofana made way for George Williams. Watford responded shortly after with a change of their own – Vydra replaced by Fernando Forestieri.

The Whites were awarded a free-kick in a good position on 68 minutes when McCormack was cynically taken down by Abdi who did well to avoid a booking. The Scotsman was tasked with taking the set-piece but he could only find the yellow wall.

Williams had Fulham’s next effort with a decent hit from range that wrong-footed Gomes after taking a deflection, but the former Tottenham Hotspur custodian recovered well to change direction and push the ball behind.

Sebastien Bassong then went into the book for a crude challenge on Jack Grimmer. McCormack sent in the free-kick from wide but it proved just too high for the leaping head of Burn.

It should really have been made 5-0 on 79 minutes when a hopeful clearance fortuitously sent Forestieri in on goal. The Italian rounded Kiraly but our tracksuit-bottomed keeper made a gigantic reach to claw the ball back off his toes. Superb claim by the big Hungarian.

The Hornets then made another alteration as Adlene Guedioura came on for Tozser, before replacing Ikechi Anya with Daniel Pudil shortly after.

Rodallega showed good strength to roll his marker and burst through in the 89th minute, but his volley from a tight angle flew a yard wide of Gomes’ far post.

With three minutes of added time being played, there was still time for Deeney to wrap up his hat-trick when he beat the offside trap before rifling beyond Kiraly to cap a miserable night for Fulham.