Jarrod Bowen sinks Watford as Zouma is booed by both sets of fans in West Ham's 1-0 win

West Ham are fourth in the Premier League after seeing off Watford 1-0 at the London Stadium tonight courtesy of Jarrod Bowen's deflected 68th-minute goal.

The Hammers were not at their best but a late upturn in performance was enough to get back to winning ways following recent league defeats at the hands of Manchester United and Leeds United.

The boo boys were out in full force whenever Kurt Zouma, who came under fire after footage emerged on social media of him abusing his pet cat, had possession.

But the Frenchman was unflappable throughout the encounter and barely put a foot wrong despite Watford's high-intensity in the early stages of the first period and final 15 minutes of the game.

Former Hull City winger Bowen's strike took a deflection off new boy Samir and sank the Hornets, whose winless streak has now extended to 10 matches and they have yet to score under new manager Roy Hodgson.

With five minutes to go Bowen was presented with a golden opportunity to put daylight between the two sides.

But after cutting inside on his favoured left foot he saw his bending effort come back off the post after the outstanding Ben Foster got a hand to it.

Watford were the dominant side after kick-off and could have taken the lead through Juraj Kucka after 17 minutes.

But the former AC Milan midfielder could not get his header on target after being brilliantly picked out by Hassane Kamara who latched on to Emmanuel Dennis' well-weighted pass.

Ex-Tottenham midfielder Moussa Sissoko dragged a tame effort wide nine minutes later as West Ham were just about hanging in and withstanding a concerted Watford assault.

West Ham, who had been lacking the intensity, desire and speed on view earlier this season, finally began to show signs of life when Tomas Soucek fired a header over the crossbar after climbing highest from an inswinging corner.

The home side was suddenly moving the ball a lot quicker at the end of the first 45 mintues and there was more urgency and determination in their play.

They had another clear-cut chance minutes later but Said Benrahma slammed his first effort straight at the onrushing Foster before hitting the post on the rebound.

Watford were tiring fast and West Ham's tails were suddenly up, with David Moyes' men fancying their chances and sensing an opportunity to deliver the sucker punch.

And when Bowen got his shot away it looked like Foster was on his way to a comfortable save but it came off Samir's leg to wrong-foot the former West Bromwich goalkeeper.

West Ham were 1-0 up but still had their work cut out to hang on to the slender lead as Watford went up a gear after dropping deep in the first half-hour after the restart.

Despite losing their way and falling behind, the Hornets showed a spirited response.

But Tom Cleverley blazed over following a neat cutback from Joshua King before Lukasz Fabianski palmed his effort away two minutes later.

Tighter at the back and adventurous going forward, it's not all doom and gloom for Watford.

But having failed to score in each of their last three fixtures, the Hornets need to rediscover their shooting boots and make the most of their chances during games as they bid to avoid consecutive relegations.

Line-Ups

West Ham United

1 Lukas Fabianski- 3 Aaron Cresswell- 4 Kurt Zouma- 5 Vladimir Coufal- 8 Pablo Fornals- 9 Michail Antonio- 15 Craig Dawson- 20 Jarrod Bowen-22 Said Benrahma (Manuel Lanzini 60') - 28 Tomas Soucek- 41 Declan Rice

Watford

1 Ben Foster- 7 Joshua King- 8 Tom Cleverley (Joao Pedro 77') - 14 Hassane Kamara- 15 Craig Cathcart- 19 Moussa Sissoko- 21 Kiko Femenia (Jeremy Ngakia 78') - 22 Samir- 25 Emmanuel Dennis-33 Juray Kucka 39 Edo Kayembe (Imran Louza 77')