Nigerian striker Emmanuel Dennis is the name on the lips of every fans of Watford now. Dennis ended Watford’s three-month wait for a victory last week as Roy Hodgson celebrated his first win in charge on the road at Aston Villa.
The Hornets arrived at Villa Park in the midst of the longest current winless run in the Premier League, having picked up just two points in the 11 matches that followed November’s memorable win against Manchester United.
Hodgson replaced Claudio Ranieri during that bleak run and secured his first victory as Watford manager on Saturday afternoon as Dennis headed home a cross from Ismaila Sarr to seal a 1-0 triumph.
Steven Gerrard – who played under Hodgson with Liverpool and England – was left frustrated by the well-drilled visitors, who held firm during a lively Villa start in which Danny Ings saw penalty appeals against Samir turned down.
But Villa huffed and puffed without seriously threatening Ben Foster’s goal, with opposite number Emiliano Martinez having far more to do.
The Argentina international would only be beaten in the 78th minute as Dennis headed home a fine cross from Sarr – the first goal of the Hodgson era and a winning one at that.
Before this dramatic win Dennis has been on top of his game. He was crowned the winner of both the Stake Player of the Month and Goal of the Month awards for December.
The in-form forward hit the ground running during the first half of his maiden Premier League season and has now clinched the Player of the Month gong for the third time (August, November and December).
In the POTM competition the Nigeria international was positioned against Men’s teammate Moussa Sissoko, and Golden Girls Emma Beckett and Georgie Ferguson.
Despite the postponed games and the strong group of nominees, Dennis was able to maintain his form taking his tally for this season to eight goals with three more strikes against Chelsea, Brentford and West Ham United.
In the Goal of the Month category, the 24-year-old faced tough competition with three other wonderful strikes over the festive period.
With two composed finishes in the running for the plaudits, it would be the latter against West Ham, Watford’s final goal of 2021, that would secure Dennis’ title.
The forward produced a fantastic move to find the top corner with his left foot, dribbling past West Ham’s centre-backs to release a devastating finish into the opposite corner.
For a player so endow with skill and power, Dennis, in a recent interview has said football was never his first choice of career.
The rave of the moment revealed that his dream was to become a priest when he was younger and not a footballer.
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Dennis discussed life at Watford, his rise to become a Premier League player – and how, when he was a young boy in Nigeria, his ambition was to be a priest.
From dreams of being a priest to becoming a player: “No, I never dreamed of being a professional football player. I wanted to be a priest but today I’m a baller.
“I grew up in a family that believes so much in God, and going to church. As a young boy I’d go to church and admire the priest and I was like, ‘yeah, I want to be a priest’. I was 13 or 14
“I was growing up and I was good at football and everyone was telling me, ‘you should be a footballer because you play really good’. And my family were like, ‘no he needs to go to school’. And then they were like ‘OK…’ and they pushed me and I’m here.”
On wanting Ranieri to take him to Salt Bae’s Nusr-Et when Watford keep a clean sheet: “He promised for every clean sheet a dinner. And I walked up to him after the Manchester United game and said, ‘you need to pay for dinner’ and he said, ‘it wasn’t a clean sheet!’. I said, ‘you’re lucky but we’ll try next week to keep a clean sheet so you can pay for dinner’. A very expensive one! I like meat, so it’s going to be Salt Bae… that one’s expensive.
“He’s a very experienced manager, he’s won the Premier League before. He’s very good. You can see his mentality is ‘hard work and give everything on the pitch’. You can see he’s impacting the team positively. We just have to listen more to him and try to understand his style of football in a very fast way, which we really need to. But he’s very good, I’m happy he’s here.”
On why he no longer supports Arsenal: “I used to be an Arsenal fan. I like Cesc Fabregas. But I’m no more an Arsenal fan. I was so much into Arsenal sometimes I could cry when they lose. That wasn’t good for me.
“So I was like, ‘nah, I’m going to stick to myself and don’t care much because it’s not good for my health’. It’s just me and myself right now.”
Dennis is movie freak and one of his favourites is ‘Home Alone,’ the block buster Christmas film. “I like to clown around with my friends, make jokes, and tease people. I like to laugh and joke around with my friends. I like to have fun, watch movies with my friends and be happy. Another is ‘Blue Streak’ starring Martin Lawrence.