Watford, Nigerian international, Ekong make swift return to Premier League

 

Equally important, two of the three teams to lose their places in the Premier League last season are assured of making an immediate return to England’s lucrative top division.

Watford sealed promotion with two games to spare in the second-tier Championship after beating Millwall 1-0 on Saturday.

Watford is in second place, five points behind a Norwich team that secured promotion last weekend. They will be the two sides to go up automatically. Norwich will go up as champion if it wins one of its last two games.

The third team to get promoted will come from the four-team playoffs, which is set to include fourth-placed Bournemouth.

Norwich, Watford and Bournemouth were all relegated from the Premier League last season.

Nigerian international, William Troost-Ekong says promotion to the Premier League is up their as one of the absolute highs of a career that has included top-flight Italian football as well as the World Cup, the Olympics and the African Cup of Nations.

“It’s amazing. I can’t really put words to it now,” said the Nigerian; speaking to the club’s website the moments after Watford sealed promotion with a 1-0 win over Millwall.

“It’s one of the best days in my life and in my career so far. We worked so hard for it and now we’ve done it. So, I’m really pleased for all the boys.”

Troost-Ekong sacrificed life in Serie A with Udinese for a chance of Premier League football. The defender said it’s thanks to a combined effort from top to bottom that that dream has become reality.

“Credit to everyone from the backroom staff, to the media staff, to the manager; to all the physios, to the owner, to everyone. It’s amazing and it’s been a team effort,” he said.

“A lot of the time when you have a relegation it’s difficult to pick yourselves up. Everyone at the club did amazing to give us the best chance and now we’re here, so we’re all really happy.”