Hilarious heatmap shows Deulofeu had most touches in centre-circle because he took kick off SEVEN times in Man City battering

GERARD DEULOFEU drew the short straw during Watford’s 8-0 battering to Manchester City after playing as the lone striker – as shown by our heat map.

The Spanish winger had plenty of touches in the center-circle during the 77 minutes he was on the pitch at the Eithad because he took kick-off SEVEN times.

Pep Guardiola’s side set a Premier League record in their mauling of the Hornets, racing into a stunning 5-0 lead after just 18 minutes.

David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and Nicolas Otamendi were the players to fire past poor Ben Foster in the away goal.

But spare a thought for Deulofeu, who was left so isolated up front for Watford that he only managed 29 touches throughout the game – and according to , seven of those were kick-offs.

Those restarts did, in fact, help the 25-year-old achieve a passing accuracy of 92% from his 14 attempted passes.

But it’s little for Deulofeu to be pleased about, with his one successful dribble coming in the first four minutes.

With Watford only behind by one at the time, the former Everton star spurned a glorious opportunity to haul Quique Sanchez Flores’ side level.

Deulofeu found himself through on goal after skipping past Nicolas Otamendi, but his chipped finish lacked conviction and rolled past the post.

The ex-Barcelona man will hope to put the performance behind him when Watford face Swansea at Vicarage Road in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

Following the Etihad hiding, Sanchez Flores apologised to the travelling fans, as he said: “We have to say sorry to the fans because they came to the stadium waiting for a good performance from the team and it was very difficult to be on the pitch today.

“After 30 seconds we realised it would be very tough and then after 15 minutes it was impossible to play like this.”