Hornets boss Silva delivers stinging riposte to Allardyce

Watford 1 Tottenham 1: When one thinks of managerial spats in the Premier League, it is usually Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, or Pep Guardiola, but now we have a new contest on the cards: in the blue corner, Big Sam Allardyce, the heavyweight from Dudley, against Marco Silva, the Portuguese middleweight.

Watford’s manager has not been in England a year, but is already showing his combative side by biting back at the comments Allardyce made when he was appointed Everton manager on Friday.

Silva had been in the running for the Everton job only for Watford to refuse the Goodison club permission to talk to him. When Allardyce eventually took over last week, he questioned the track record of the Portuguese, who took over at Hull City last January but failed to save them from relegation. “If you look at my track record why wouldn’t I be here, irrespective of Marco Silva?” Allardyce said. “I have every respect for Marco Silva and I am not criticising Silva but his track record has got no comparison with mine because he got Hull relegated.”