Per Mertesacker scored on his first Arsenal Premier League start since April 2016
Tom Cleverley's injury-time winner sent Watford fourth in the Premier League after a wasteful Arsenal were made to pay at Vicarage Road.
Marco Silva's side have now scored in the 90th minute or beyond in three consecutive games, as a second-half revival sealed their first home win of an impressive start to the campaign.
Arsene Wenger may well bemoan Troy Deeney's disputed second-half penalty, which let the Hornets level after Per Mertesacker's header gave Arsenal the lead before the break.
But without the rested Alexis Sanchez the Gunners lacked the cutting edge to capitalise on a string of chances, with substitute Mesut Ozil - also benched after his World Cup qualifying exertions for Germany in the week - guilty of one glaring miss.
It took until midway through the first half for Arsenal to click into gear - Iwobi tested Heurelho Gomes before Mertesacker's breakthrough, and then the 21-year-old set up Hector Bellerin, but the Spaniard wasted a gilt-edged chance to double their lead before half-time.
Watford grew in confidence after the break, starting to create their own opportunities.
Brazilian striker Richarlison fired narrowly wide and after Silva brought Deeney off the bench, with the captain striking the post with a deflected attempt that could have sealed their win on 81 minutes.
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