Watford missed a chance to inflict more away misery on 10-man Tottenham Hotspur as the two sides fought out a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road on Saturday.
Davinson Sanchez was shown a straight red card for catching Richarlison with a stray elbow in the 52nd minute, hampering his side’s hopes of making up ground on the top four.
But the home team will feel most frustrated after failing to make their numerical advantage count.
The Hornets earlier opened the scoring through Christian Kabasele, the defender heading in his second goal in five Premier League matches from Tom Cleverley’s corner.
Tottenham, facing the prospect of a fourth consecutive away defeat in the league, quickly restored parity through Son Heung-min.
And although Sanchez’s dismissal re-opened the door for Marco Silva’s side, Spurs survived the scare of a long-range Abdoulaye Doucoure shot against the upright to claim a hard-earned point and recapture sixth from Burnley.
Harry Kane appeared set to give his side the perfect start inside five minutes, but the England striker was unable to connect with Kieran Trippier’s enticing low ball across the face.
Instead, it was left to Kabasele to open the scoring as he got away from Eric Dier, rose above Kane and nodded Cleverley’s corner inside the far post.
Spurs needed a quick response to calm the nerves and they got it in the 25th minute. Christian Eriksen found space on the right and measured a perfect low pass to the far post for the recalled Son to tap home.
Richarlison had seen his appeal for a penalty waved away moments before the equaliser, which proved to be the final real action of a tightly-contested first half.
The contest turned on its head when Sanchez was shown a straight red just seven minutes after the restart, the defender adjudged to have caught Richarlison with an elbow to the face.
And the Hornets came within inches of making their advantage count when Doucoure’s superb curling effort from distance struck the inside of the right post and somehow stayed out.
Heurelho Gomes needed treatment after appearing to collide with team-mate Adrian Mariappa and the break in play allowed Mauricio Pochettino’s men to regain a foothold.
Moussa Sissoko next threatened on the counter-attack soon after being introduced in place of Eriksen, although the midfielder’s miscued attempt proved to be the closest they came to a winner.
Watford, meanwhile, were restricted to shots from outside the area and were unable to sufficiently stretch the visitors’ defence, as they failed to claim what would have been the first win in this fixture since the 1986-87 season.
In other Premier League results:
Stoke City turned around an early deficit to record a much-needed 2-1 win at the bet365 Stadium and consign Swansea City to the foot of the Premier League table.
Sam Allardyce began his reign at Everton with a 2-0 victory over Huddersfield Town at Goodison Park.
Damarai Gray scored the only goal of the match as Leicester City won for the second time in a week to edge Burnley 1-0 at the King Power Stadium.
Roberto Firmino scored twice as Liverpool cruised to a 5-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion in an entertaining Premier League contest on the south coast.
Alan Pardew was unable to inspire West Brom to a first Premier League win since August as his new side were held to a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace at The Hawthorns.
