For us, Eden Hazard was the main man early on. One low cross nearly found Diego Costa, and then Troy Deeney cynically halted him and was booked. Gary Cahill also saw yellow for an earlier foul on Capoue.

Our defender then had to be at his best to stop Odion Ighalo turning in an Nordin Amrabat centre from close range as the rain began to pour down in Hertfordshire midway through the half.

It was windy too and the conditions weren’t conducive to free-flowing football, with niggly fouls and overhit passes adding to the lack of fluency.

There was a moment of controversy a couple of minutes before the interval when Gomes spilled the ball and then reclaimed it only after a Watford defender had taken it away from Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic’s path. Referee Jon Moss did not deem it a back-pass and so the teams went in goalless.

Hazard blasted a shot wide from a searching Oscar cross as we sought to seize the initiative early in the second period.

Instead it was Watford that did just that with 55 minutes on the clock. Adlene Guedioura had time to cross and then an unmarked Capoue had space to shoot when the ball reached him, lashing his strike high past Thibaut Courtois.

On the hunt for an instant response, Hazard and Pedro neatly linked up but the former’s cross was intercepted by Gomes. Matic shot wide on the hour. More quality was required in the final third.

Branislav Ivanovic, making his 250th league appearance for the club, nearly provided it after breaking beyond the Hornets’ backline, taking the ball away from Gomes and firing into the danger zone. It was deflected behind. From the resulting corner we appealed for a penalty for handball, to no avail.

Conte made his first change with 20 minutes remaining, Victor Moses replacing Pedro, and then Batshuayi was brought on for Oscar. Fabregas was the third and final change for his first minutes of the campaign, Matic making way.

The Spaniard was immediately involved as we levelled things up. He fed Hazard outside the box and the attacker didn’t need a second invitation to shoot. His effort was hit hard but Gomes will be disappointed he couldn’t hold it; the Chelsea fans behind his goal certainly weren’t as Batshuayi was quickest to the rebound, firing into the net and sparking pandemonium in the away end.