One day, the shocks of this incredible season will start lose their impact. But until then, the march of the unfashionable clubs on English football’s elite is a trend to savour.
Leicester are top of the Barclays Premier League at Christmas and Watford are a point outside the Champions League places after this demolition job on Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp’s team were two down inside 15 error-strewn minutes, never recovered and conceded the third, five minutes from the end as they over-committed in search of a way back into the game.
Nathan Ake scored the opener after a mistake by goalkeeper Adam Bogdan and Odion Ighalo scored the other two and Watford were worth the win.
This was not a result that flattered Quique Sanchez Flores and his player and this was a not a game when Klopp could complain about strong-arm tactics.
Liverpool’s opponents were stronger at the back and more potent in front of goal. By the end, the home crowd were singing about European football.
The last time Watford were this good, Liverpool were better, but Klopp has much work ahead if he is to restore this club to its glory days.
Bogdan was not the only Liverpool player guilty of starting badly, but his mistake in the third minute set the tone. He dropped a simple catch from a corner, perhaps distracted by Troy Deeney, who ran across him as the ball arrived.
Under pressure, Bogdan was unable to tidy up the spillage and claimed the ball was kicked from his hands. There might have been a foul, but none was given and Ake converted from a matter of inches. On loan from Chelsea, it was his first goal for Watford and he followed it with an impressive defensive display.
For Bogdan, making his Premier League debut for Liverpool after some fabulous form in the Capital One Cup, but it was a dreadful start on a day when he was desperate to impress.
Simon Mignolet was out with a hamstring injury that has been troubling him for a while and Klopp turned to the Hungarian, signed on a free transfer from Bolton in the summer.
Bogdan was soon beaten again, this time by a precision finish from Ighalo for his 11th of the season.
Deeney lifted a long pass behind the Liverpool defence and Ighalo out-muscled Skrtel and took his shot early, squeezing it into goal from a tight angle, off the base of the far post.
It was very similar to his goal against Norwich in Watford’s previous game at Vicarage Road, when he held off Sebastien Bassong, and another example of his deadly accuracy in front of goal.
Liverpool were in a mess at this point, unable to exert any control in midfield, creating very little and painfully vulnerable at the back. Another Bogdan slip was rescued by Skrtel before the goalkeeper made a sharp save, low to his left to deny Jurado.
Problems deepened for Klopp when Skrtel hobbled off before half-time with what appeared to be a pulled hamstring. He had required a long spell of treatment, earlier in the game, when he fell heavily on his back after an aerial challenge.
Klopp sent on striker Divock Origi and reshuffled with Lucas Leiva moving into central defence, where he was far more secure than Mamadou Sakho, who played without a trace of composure.
Liverpool were reinvigorated after the break, forcing a series of chances which were good but not clear-cut. Heurelho Gomes saved from Coutinho and Origi, Alberto Moreno sliced wide and Miguel Britos blocked from Adam Lallana.
Watford remained firm and might easily have extended the lead on the break.
Ighalo twice went past Sakho, leaving the centre-half in a heap on the turf on both occasions. The first was an elaborate piece of skill in a tight space in the penalty area but the Nigerian striker was crowded out before he could eke out an effort at goal.
Bogdan produced a fine save to keep out the second chance, when Ighalo was clean through with a run at goal and seemed set to kill the game.