Watford 3-0 Bristol City

Watford comfortably beat a much-changed Bristol City in the FA Cup third round as striker Troy Deeney returned with a goal after a four-match suspension.

The Championship club struggled to get going, playing three days before their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Manchester City.

Andre Carrillo's turn and low shot put the Premier League men up at half-time.

Roberto Pereyra hit the crossbar before Deeney nodded in and Etienne Capoue tucked in a third late on.

Promotion-chasing Bristol City, preparing for their first major semi-final in 28 years, made seven changes for the match at Vicarage Road and spent most of the match defending in their own half.

• Watch highlights from FA Cup third-round matches

Two sides with different priorities

Visiting head coach Lee Johnson gave debuts to academy products Opi Edwards, 18, and Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, 20, and they duly gained experience against a top-flight outfit who took the game seriously and could have won by a greater margin.

Having welcomed back Deeney as one of just three changes, Marco Silva's men were kept out by first-half blocks from City centre-back Aden Flint and keeper Luke Steele.

Pereyra was then unlucky after the break when his curling shot from the edge of the area bounced down off the crossbar on to the line and clear.

The Robins' best chance came and went when striker Matty Taylor failed to hit the target with a free header.

In contrast to mid-table Watford, who are five points clear of the Premier League relegation zone in 10th, Bristol City - just two points off an automatic promotion spot - had other priorities, amid their strongest second-tier league season in recent memory.

No repeat of August's upset

A lively Tom Cleverley was kept out by Bristol City keeper Luke Steele early on

Bristol City had won 3-2 at Watford, despite making nine changes, in August's League Cup meeting - the first of their four wins over Premier League opposition so far this term.

But on Saturday they showed few signs of the brave, attacking football that contributed to them stunning Manchester United in December.

For Watford, who had lost six of their past seven games, victory was only their second at home since October, and Deeney's goal was his third of the season.

Defeat meant the Robins' run of FA Cup meetings with Premier League clubs without victory extended to 14 matches, going back to their 1-0 win at Liverpool in 1994.

'Great to have Deeney back' - What the managers said:

Watford manager Marco Silva on Troy Deeney's goalscoring return: "It's important that he's back, for our team. It's not normal in the last 10 games before this we had only him available for three games.

"It's important for him to get 90 minutes into his legs as well, and great that he's on the scoresheet as well."

Bristol City assistant manager Dean Holden: "We came here wanting to win the game, it's the biggest cup competition in the world but we had to make decisions with everything in mind.

"We don't have any regrets about selection, because those decisions were made for the right reasons."