Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe offered no excuses after defeat at home to Watford.

Goals from Abdoulaye Doucoure, Troy Deeney and substitute Roberto Pereyra secured a comfortable 3-0 victory for Watford at the Vitality Stadium to lift them above their opponents into 17th place.

Howe said, "Tough game, we battled and stuck to the game in the first half. It wasn't a great performance from either team before half-time but the goal sucked the life out of us and gave them a boost.

"We needed to do better. We weren't creative enough, similar to recent weeks, and the first goal is a hammer blow for us. It is a team thing and we didn't execute what we wanted, put ourselves under pressure and conceded a poor goal.

"We all learn from those moments and the team has to take responsibility. It was difficult for us today, we had a strong team, good balance, so it's disappointing. We are always concerned when we don't win. We were desperate to do well. The first goal damaged us mentally and we didn't recover. We are in a difficult moment and need to lift ourselves."