Daniel Pudil has a confession to make ahead of Watford’s crucial clash with Leeds United on Saturday: “If somebody had told me three games ago that we could still go up automatically I wouldn’t have believed them.”

It is not surprising. When third-placed Watford left the pitch against Peterborough United on April 13 they were six points behind Hull City with just four matches to play.

However, the Tigers have taken just one point since then and will have to beat champions Cardiff City on Saturday to ensure their promotion to the Premier League.

Should they fail to record a victory against the Bluebirds then a Watford win against Leeds will see the Hornets go up.

“Hull are under pressure,” Pudil said. “They have had three or four chances to finish everything and they haven’t done so.

“We have to hope Cardiff can get a result but we will just play our football and make sure we win, then we will see what happens.”

The wing-back continued: “We could go straight into the Premier League or we could end up in the play-off which would be a little disappointing.

“But if someone had offered me this situation before the start of the season I would have been happy.”