Last time these teams met was in the white heat of a Wembley FA Cup semi-final, won by Watford’s stirring comeback from 2-0 down. This match was never in with a chance of reaching those levels of excitement, but Wolves at least had the consolation of a measure of revenge and the advantage in the race for seventh place and the possibility of a Europa League place.

Raul Jimenez put Wolves ahead four minutes before the interval with his 17th goal of the season. Andre Gray levelled for Watford four minutes into the second half, but an error by Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster allowed Diogo Jota to win it after 77 minutes.

Nothing out of the extremely ordinary happened until the 21st minute, when Ruben Neves’ 30-yard shot nearly surprised Foster. Until then, Watford’s most penetrating attack had been created by a wayward backpass from Wolves’ Jonny Otto.

Even when Roberto Pereyra burst through a tackle and set up Gerard Deulofeu with a clever diagonal pass after 24 minutes, the winger slipped as he shot and the ball went well wide.

But Wolves were beginning to dominate and should have gone ahead after 34 minutes. Jimenez met Leander Dendoncker’s low cross six yards out and it looked a certain goal. But the forward miss-hit his shot, allowing Watford’s Etienne Capoue to hook the ball off the line.