Imran Louza played a starring role with two assists as Watford came from behind to win 2-1 at Leicester and claim back-to-back victories for the first time this season in the Sky Bet Championship.

Watford skipper Louza crossed for Mattie Pollock to head the winner in the 65th minute, after teeing up Othmane Maamma for the away side's leveller on the stroke of half-time.

Jordan James had fired Leicester into the lead in the seventh minute with a deflected effort from Jordan Ayew's pass but the Foxes were unable to find an equaliser once Watford went ahead.

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The Hornets now sit just one point outside of the play-off places while Leicester drop into the bottom half of the table, five points adrift of the top-six.

Despite Watford enjoying plenty of possession early on, the Foxes broke the deadlock when James lashed a low shot beyond the reach of Egil Selvik into the bottom left corner from just inside the penalty area via the aid of a slight deflection.

Watford had the ball in the net at the other end four minutes later, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside after Marc Bola forced home Pollock's initial header at a corner from virtually on the goalline.

The home side almost doubled their lead later in the first half when Selvik miscued a pass straight into the path of Stephy Mavididi and made amends by tipping the midfielder's effort behind for a corner at full stretch.

Watford broke from the resulting set-piece as Giorgi Chakvetadze burst through and slipped a pass into Luca Kjerrumgaard, who fired a shot across the face of goal and harmlessly wide with team-mates racing into the box.

Leicester looked to extend their lead before the break when Bobby De Cordova-Reid curled a shot wide of goal from outside the penalty area, after neat link-up play with Ricardo Pereira.

However, the Hornets equalised on the stroke of half-time when Caleb Okoli saw his clearance charged down and Louza jinked his way past Ben Nelson before playing a pass into the path of Maamma, who curled a shot into the left corner of the goal with the outside of his boot from 12 yards out.

The turnaround was completed after the break when Pollock beat Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk to Louza's cross from the right and powered a header into the bottom right corner from four yards.

Watford should have scored another late on when substitute Vivaldo Semedo played Louza through on goal, only for the midfielder to blaze a shot over the bar with only Stolarczyk to beat.

The managers

Leicester's Marti Cifuentes:

"We were looking for a reaction after the last game, we started the game well and took the lead but it was very disappointing to concede from a mistake very close to half-time.

"We had to make sure we didn't feel sorry for ourselves but there was another sequence of mistakes at a set-play and from there it was difficult.

"Emotionally it is not easy for the team at the moment. We didn't play the last quarter of the game at the best level, we couldn't create enough pressure.

"It's important that everybody is accountable. We need to have the mental resilience to manage different situations. We can't only expect to win games when things go our way.

"I knew the task when coming here, there are some things that unfortunately we need to change and try to change certain dynamics.

"All of us have the capacity to do much better and the fans deserve more than we're offering at the moment."

Watford's Javi Gracia:

"The way we are improving and the feeling that the team is growing is better than a couple of good results and the results are the consequence of the work.

"After the opponent scored (from) the first chance, we managed the situation to keep believing in our plan and at the end of the game we got what we wanted with three points.

"It took us a long time to get our first away win. Now we have a second, it's something amazing for us. We know all the work we are doing to be able to compete this way.

"It's a Christmas gift for the supporters. We have to show important values on the pitch - solidarity, be supportive and helping each other during the game, that's the spirit we need.

"I trust all of my players. I would like to give more minutes to all of the players. It's impossible to compete with the same players in all of the games."

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