Had it not been for Kenedy, Newcastle wouldn’t have won on Saturday.
While Ayoze Perez grabbed the winning goal, it was the Brazilian who saved the victory.
After a corner that should have seen Newcastle double their lead, Watford counter-attacked off a Paul Dummett mistake. With the goal gaping, Isaac Success looked to find Andre Gray in the box.
The forward was ready to stroke it home before Kenedy emerged out of nowhere to produce a match-winning tackle.
Kenedy’s tackle as good as a goal
Everything the Chelsea loanee did last season in black and white worked. However, that hasn’t been the case this time out.
MORE NEWCASTLE STORIES
Despite an impressive start against Tottenham, things went drastically wrong for Kenedy when we headed to Cardiff.
From there, Kenedy was devoid of any confidence, looking a shadow of the player who helped save us last season.
We saw the 22-year-old get his first goal of the season at Old Trafford, then against Brighton he was a creative force in a poor overall performance for Newcastle.
But on Saturday, it all seemed to click into place for the winger.
There was one moment in the first half where he picked the ball up on the left, played a blind pass to Jonjo Shelvey and gave away possession. Matt Ritchie immediately got in his face, encouraging him and keeping his chin up.
From that moment on, Kenedy barely put a foot wrong. But not only was he strong going forwards, he also did his best defensively as well.
Going backwards isn’t what Kenedy is all about, but against Watford he was everywhere, doing his defensive work and making Dummett’s life much easier.
The win against the Hornets should kick-start our season, and is hopefully the beginning of another great spell on Tyneside for Kenedy.