“We know we haven’t been good enough in the last few games”. That was Troy Deeney’s typically honest assessment of Watford’s current Premier League form when he helped run the rule over the weekend’s action on Match of the Day 2 tonight.

The Hornets captain was a guest on the BBC show the day after being part of Quique Sanchez Flores’ side that suffered their fourth successive top-flight defeat and heaviest loss of the season following a one-sided 4-0 beating at Arsenal.

Presenter Mark Chapman didn’t ask Deeney in depth about the defeat at the Emirates Stadium, but having spoken about his playing relationship with Odion Ighalo, the Watford skipper was questioned how Flores differs from his previous bosses at Vicarage Road.

“It’s just the belief he gives us,” the striker responded. “He gives us a freedom in the attacking sense but we’re very well drilled and he makes sure that we know all our positions and there’s no excuses for not knowing it on a matchday, so when we have results like we did yesterday it’s very frustrating.”

Deeney agreed with Chapman’s assertion that it was “a bit lazy” of the media to suggest Watford’s focus was now on the forthcoming FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace and they had taken their eye off the league.

Deeney continued: “In the dressing room I can tell you there weren’t many nice words said after that [yesterday's] game. It wasn’t a case of ‘oh, it don’t matter, we’ve got the semi-final to look forward to’.

“We know that we haven’t been good enough in the last few games so we’ve got to make sure we turn it around because, as you said before [referring to Aston Villa after their 4-0 defeat against Chelsea], the fans are the ones who want to see people trying week in, week out and there’s ways to lose games.”