West Ham's inconsistent season continued as they were beaten 2-0 by Watford on Saturday, while they had James Collins sent off late on.

Having recorded victories over champions Chelsea, leaders Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool this season, the Hammers have, however, struggled against the relative minnows.

They previously lost at home to both Bournemouth and Leicester while failing to beat the likes of Norwich and Sunderland.

And they were out of sorts as an Odion Ighalo brace knocked the Irons out of the top four.

It could have been worse too as Nathan Ake, Ighalo and Troy Deeney all went close in the first half; West Ham goalkeeper Adrian saving well from Ake.

The opener came on 39 minutes after a gaffe from West Ham's giant striker Andy Carroll, whose scuffed clearance in his own box fell to Ake to tee up Ighalo to bundle in.

Watford doubled their lead just after the restart when another poor clearance, from James Tomkins this time, allowed Ighalo to fire his seventh goal of the season into the roof of the net.

Slaven Bilic's team did have their chances but Enner Valencia could only hit the post after pouncing on a poor back pass.

And worse was to follow late on as Collins was shown a straight red card for kicking out at Ighalo.

The win moved Watford up into mid-table security while West Ham dropped to fifth.