De Gea, who had already come in for criticism after conceding a soft goal in United's 1-1 draw with Everton in midweek, endured a nightmare afternoon as United crashed to a 2-0 awayday defeat to pile more pressure on increasingly beleaguered boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The Spanish stopper made a complete mess of a routine save as a weakly-hit shot from Watford's Ismaila Sarr, which squirmed through the goalkeeper's hands before hitting him in the face and dropping into the net five minutes into the second half.

Things went from bad to worse just four minutes later as Sarr was fouled in the penalty area by Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Watford striker Troy Deeney made no mistake from the spot as he sent De Gea the wrong way and slammed his penalty kick into the net to put the Hornets out of reach at 2-0.