Five things we learned from the weekend football: Liverpool need skipper's drive

1 Henderson return cannot come soon enough

Jordan Henderson's prominence in the PFA Player of the Year betting has raised eyebrows but the Liverpool's captain's importance has been emphasised by the Reds' sub-par performances without him in the 3-2 victory at home to West Ham and stunning 3-0 loss at Watford.

The 29-year old's drive and personality were sorely missed in both games with Liverpool lacking the intensity and discipline which have been key aspects of their success.

Liverpool's defence has come under greater pressure and failed to cope at Vicarage Road, where they could have lost by a wider margin.

Every team has matches were things go wrong but it would be a mistake for Liverpool to rationalise the Watford defeat as simply a bad day.

Leadership can be a crucial element of great teams and, without skipper Henderson driving on his teammates, Liverpool looked a pale shadow of the side which earned a shot at setting a new record for consecutive Premier League wins.

Henderson suffered a hamstring injury during the Reds' 1-0 loss away to Atletico Madrid and was initially expected to miss three weeks of action.

However, he is reportedly back running and Liverpool fans will hope he is passed fit for the second leg at Anfield a week on Wednesday.

2 Super Sarr fitness crucial for Watford

While Liverpool failed to shine, Watford were absolutely outstanding with every player putting in a shift to contribute to a well-deserved victory.

But it was hard to ignore the contribution of their record signing, Ismaila Sarr, who delivered a performance full of pace power and intelligence.

He showed coolness and quality under pressure with his dinked finish over Alisson and great appreciation for his teammates with the assist for Troy Deeney's strike.

Super Sarr's excellence was needed because Watford suffered a major blow when Gerard Deulofeu sustained what looked like a serious first-half knee injury.

Deulofeu started the game superbly and his likely absence for the run-in places more emphasis on Sarr, who has had injury problems – starting just 12 of Watford's 28 league games – and needs to stay fit if Watford are to survive their relegation battle.

3 Seagulls are in deep trouble

Victories for Watford and West Ham have heaped added pressure on Brighton, whose winless sequence extended to nine with a 1-0 loss at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

It was a case of deja vu for the Seagulls, who failed to win despite bossing the possession statistics for the fifth time in six games.

They play nice football but lack quality in the final third and are not creating enough clear chances.

When they do make opportunities their finishing is often awry and they continue to look vulnerable at the back due to a high defensive line which leaves them exposed to counters.

Graham Potter's men have kept just one clean sheet in 18 matches and, unless Albion find a more effective way of playing, they are heading for relegation.

The weekend results leave them perched just one point above the bottom three and their predicament is likely to get worse because six of their next seven games are against top-half teams.

4 Improving MK Dons can hurt promotion hopefuls

MK Dons have been in the bottom six of Sky Bet League One since October but have not played like relegation candidates in 2020 and are going to pose a stern challenge to their opponents for the remainder of the season.

They claimed a 1-1 draw at Rotherham on Saturday and could damage to a few of their rivals in the weeks ahead.

Six of the Dons' remaining ten games are against top-half teams and they are unlikely to fear any of them.

The Buckinghamshire side have lost just three of their last 13 matches and have one of the hottest strikers in the league in Rhys Healey, who notched his sixth goal in seven games at the weekend.

5 Cheltenham charge could continue

For the last few weeks the race for automatic promotion in League Two has been seen as a four-team battle between Swindon, Crewe Exeter and Plymouth but Cheltenham have been charging up on the rails and can no longer be overlooked after taking their winning streak to five with a 2-0 success at Colchester.

Michael Duff's men have climbed to within one point of the top three and are three points behind leaders Swindon, whose scheduled clash at Mansfield was postponed.

Cheltenham did a superb bit of business in January by snapping up striker Alfie May from Doncaster.

May has flourished, netting six goals in 11 matches, and his quality could help the Robins clinch one of the automatic promotion slots.

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