Watford face a Sunderland side unbeaten at home in league

Those two statistics alone highlight the size of the task facing Tom Cleverley and his team as they travel north-east on the back of seven defeats in nine games.

“Sunderland are a team that I really enjoy watching to be honest. They don’t try and reinvent the wheel,” said the head coach.

“They are very effective at what they do, their recruitment has been outstanding, their manager seems very calm and calculated.

“I like watching them play football. In all the leagues across the world, I enjoy watching Sunderland play football.

“I like how they’ve developed Academy players into really important parts of their club.

“I respect a lot of what they’re doing and it’s going to be a tough test, but you’ve seen all season the tougher tests have brought the best out of us.”

You look at some of their signings. How they’ve got Le Fee on loan, probably through the manager. They’ve got Danns as well who is excellent and is going to help them push on. They’ve done so well to stay up there with the other three.

TC: “I’m sure financial power plays a part and I don’t know what they’re paying in wages but it’s not small money when you can get players like Le Fee through the door.

“They are a club I have lot of respect for but let’s not forget we’ve beaten them twice in the last 10 months so we go there with belief.”

Watford could do with a result as well. Certainly for a few weeks but now you definitely need one.

TC: “Absolutely. Strip it all back, strip all the noise back about what’s been going on, the songs being chanted, the transfer market, strip it back: we need a result. I need a result.

“And I like that responsibility. It’s a results business and we’re all desperate for one this weekend.”

Do you feel that pressure on you?

TC: “Always. I put that pressure on myself more than anyone to be honest.

“I’m a winner and I work harder than anyone to make sure we give ourselves our best chance to win.

“With that I put a lot of pressure on myself and I’m in a role where pressure is part of the job but that starts with myself.”

Is there something in it, when you are up against it, that you strangely quite enjoy it? When you feel like the whole world is against you, but you still have to try and get players out on the pitch to win a game of football?

TC: “All of the best teams and the ones who can really get through difficult moments have that sort of culture.

“We’ve got injuries, we’ve got suspensions and we’re on a bad run with a tough group of fixtures coming up – that is sometimes when you get the best out of the team.

“We’ve beaten Sunderland twice in the last 10 months and two of our best performances over the last 10 months have been against Leeds.

“We should face the challenge with confidence.”

With the window now gone, what sort of realistic aims and ambitions do you think for Watford now?

TC: “Take each game as it comes is absolutely the mindset that we must approach it with now.

“I think me, I was the first person to get carried away with long-term goals and it doesn’t do you any good because then you can really feel derailed by recent form, and we’re not going to achieve our targets so it’s such a bad moment for us.

“Now I think we have to take it on a daily basis, and a weekly basis when it comes to the fixtures.

“I’m sorry you’re not going to hear any ambitions and long-term targets from me.

“It literally is perform to our best, each and every game.”

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