Hornets head coach Quique Sanchez Flores believes Sunday’s opponents Crystal Palace are the club to replicate when it comes to establishing yourself in the Premier League.

Three seasons after the Eagles beat Gianfranco Zola’s Watford in the Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley they are a settled top flight club with aspirations of kicking on to better last season’s tenth place finish.

Manager Alan Pardew steered the south Londoners away from the relegation zone after replacing Neil Warnock at the beginning of 2015 and eventually delivered the club’s highest ever finish in the Premier League era.

And after some astute summer business – which saw playmaker Yohan Cabaye recruited from Paris St-Germain – the Eagles are flying high in eighth having beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge already.

It has been quite the transformation for the rag-tag bunch which pipped the Hornets to promotion with a Kevin Phillips penalty late in extra time in May 2013.

“It’s like a mirror where you can look [to replicate] because the history of Crystal Palace in the last few years has been amazing,” said Flores.

“They know it is very important to stay in the Premier League and they are building a better team in the last few years. They are playing well, bidding for good players and they have an idea for the future.

“You can feel when you play against other teams who have a plan for the future and they are working really well.

“Every single year they improve and invest in good players because they want to stay in the Premier League. That is why on Sunday we will face a very tough team.”

The Hornets go into Sunday’s televised visit from Palace off the back of consecutive wins against Swansea City and Newcastle United. But Flores’ attention is on the visit of Pardew’s men and not the Golden Boys’ first two wins of the season.

He explained: “I would like, of course, three points. We are working very hard to get the next win but it’s very difficult for us and teams in the Premier League to get three consecutive wins.

“We always try to forget what happened in the last match because we don’t consider it important to what happens in the next match.

“We are focused only on Crystal Palace. We respect this team very much and they have started very well this season. They are a dangerous team and they have a really important attack with really fast players.

“We will try [to win] but we know it will be a very tough match.”

And whilst Flores is fully aware a third win on the spin would provide a huge boost for morale, he is just as focused on keeping his players’ feet on the ground.

He said: “It’s always important to win because it reinforces the work of the players. It’s an amazing atmosphere they are creating.

“At this moment the players think they can do everything and it’s very important to work with this idea. Sometimes it takes a long time to get this atmosphere.

"It’s very important to be confident but I don’t like to be overconfident. Also it’s important to transmit to the player that we won the last two matches but it’s completely different the match we are going to play on Sunday.”