Abdoulaye Doucoure, Troy Deeney and Roberto Pereyra scored Sunday's goals to continue Watford's improvement under manager Nigel Pearson.

"It is a very big result, a great win and one the players worked very hard to secure," Pearson said.

"It is a very positive step in the right direction for us.

"We have run away comfortable winners in the end, but it was a game we had to fight and protect our goal with a lot of resilience.

Doucoure put Watford ahead just before halftime, Deeney added a second 25 minutes from time and Pereyra completed the win in injury time, dropping Bournemouth to second-bottom.

Watford have taken 13 of 15 points since Pearson officially took charge of team affairs, while an injury-hit Bournemouth side are under real pressure now after nine defeats in 11 matches.

"We are in a difficult moment and need to lift ourselves," Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said.

"We all learn from those moments and the team has to take responsibility.

"It was difficult for us today, we had a strong team, good balance, so it's disappointing. We are always concerned when we don't win. We were desperate to do well. The first goal damaged us mentally and we didn't recover."

Champions Manchester City can go second if they win at Aston Villa in the day's late match.

Australian Associated Press