For the first time in a Watford shirt, Roberto Pereyra looked like a man with a Champions League final on his CV – but that was no surprise to team-mate Will Hughes.

Argentinian Pereyra took advantage of dozy Brighton defending to volley his side ahead from a corner 10 minutes before half-time and completed the scoring in a surprisingly straightforward success with a solo effort nine minutes into the second half, cutting in from the left to curl across goalkeeper Mat Ryan.

Pereyra, 27, played the last 11 minutes of the 2015 Champions League final for Juventus, with Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba in midfield, losing 3-1 to Barcelona.

It is probably safe to surmise that Pereyra was not expecting to swap life at the top of the Serie A tree for relegation battles with a club who count losing the 1984 FA Cup final as one of their greatest days. Yet that was precisely what happened a little over a year later.

Pereyra contributed just seven goals in his two previous seasons at Watford, but Hughes, his colleague for the past year, had always known the winger was a man of technical proficiency if not consistency.