If I score, that´s me retiring! Watford keeper Foster rues late Kepa save in Chelsea win

Ben Foster joked he would have retired had he scored and salvaged a dramatic point for Watford in their 2-1 Premier League loss to Chelsea.

The bottom-of-the-table Hornets remain winless after 11 games, with Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic scoring in either half for the Blues at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

Gerard Deulofeu’s 80th-minute penalty had given Watford hope and they nearly claimed a share of the spoils in stoppage time when Foster came up for a free-kick and headed towards goal.

Yet Kepa Arrizabalaga turned the ball away in the game’s final act, leaving Foster rueful but full of admiration for his fellow shot-stopper.

“If I score at the end, that’s me retiring,” he told BBC Sport.

“Fair play to Kepa – that was some save.”

So close to a late leveller

Foster comes up for a free-kick and forces an acrobatic save from Kepa.

90+7’
1-2 #WATCHE

— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) November 2, 2019

Frank Lampard’s young side won a fifth successive league game to move up to third in the table, and their margin of victory would have been greater had Foster not made brilliant saves to deny Abraham, Mason Mount and Pulisic.

“They were a very good team,” Foster added on Sky Sports. “Fair play to them: they’re young, energetic.

“Our manager told us before the game that they are like kids in the playground. If they’re in the playground and the gates are open, then they will run free.

“You need to shut the fences, you need to shut the doors. I don’t think we did that at times today, which was a bit disappointing.”