After his Watford side soared to the top of the Championship table on Saturday, Slavisa Jokanovic has tipped them to stay there.
The Hornets made light work of beating Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, with goals from Odion Ighalo, Almen Abdi and Matej Vydra giving them a 3-0 win in Yorkshire. This was their seventh success of an impressive start to the campaign, which has seen them lose just twice, and not since mid-September, from twelve fixtures.
More significantly, with Norwich City losing 1-0 at Fulham, this allowed Watford to replace the Canaries at the head of the Championship standings. Of course, these are still early days and there are another 34 matches left to play in what is turning out to be a hugely competitive league, but Jokanovic thinks his side have what it takes to stay top.
“This league is very tough so we have to try to improve,” he said. “We can stay top of the league but it will be tough. It was important for us to have good offensive players, but everyone defended brilliantly. We played with three strikers and they understood what we wanted, finding the gaps and playing very well. I am very happy and the team must be very happy.”
Watford’s credentials will be put to the test in the coming days, when they first welcome Nottingham Forest to Vicarage Road. The Reds lost at Cardiff City on Saturday, but this was their first reverse of the season and Stuart Pearce will no doubt have his players pumped up for their trip south on Tuesday evening. Once that is out of the way, Jokanovic and his players travel to the Riverside Stadium to face another of the division’s in-form teams, Middlesbrough, who are third in the table and just a point off the summit.
Are Watford good enough to remain at the top of the table? Let us know what you think by joining in with the discussion below.
