Troy Deeney scored two goals and made another as 10-man Watford earned a 3-0 win over Aston Villa to extend their unbeaten run under Nigel Pearson to three matches.
The captain opened the scoring on 42 minutes when he squeezed the ball under Tom Heaton after the Villa goalkeeper had initially kept out Abdoulaye Doucoure's shot.
Watford went a man down on 57 minutes when Adrian Mariappa received his second yellow card for a foul on Henri Lansbury.
But, after Douglas Luiz brought down Deeney inside the penalty area, the striker got up to convert from the spot and double his side's lead on 67 minutes.
Ismaila Sarr added a third four minutes later as Watford secured successive home victories to move to 16 points, seven of which have come from their last three matches under Pearson, their new head coach.
Villa are one place above Watford in 18th and two points better off.
See: Watford report | Villa report
Next fixtures
Watford: 1 Jan v Wolves (A)
Aston Villa: 1 Jan v Burnley (A)
Referee: Simon Hooper. Assistants: Simon Bennett, Derek Eaton. Fourth official: Stephen Martin. VAR: Jonathan Moss. Assistant VAR: Neil Davies
