Troy Deeney says it is up to himself and Andre Gray to make it impossible for Javi Gracia to opt for anything other than playing two up front this season.

Saturday’s 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion saw the strikers partner each other in attack from the start for the first time in the Premier League.

Watford impressed all over the pitch as Deeney and Gray linked up well in attack, with the former’s hold up play and the latter’s running in behind complimenting each other well.

Now Deeney says he is out to make it hard for Gracia to take either out of his plans for the remainder of the season.

The Watford skipper said: “Hopefully we can play more together, but ultimately it is the manager’s decision.

“If he decides to play us together, we have to go out there, win games and make it impossible for us to be dropped.”

Both Deeney and Gray have arguably enjoyed their best form when playing in a strike partnership but did so on precious few occasions in Gray’s first season at the club.

Deeney believes their showings when playing alongside each other, as well as some promising moments in pre-season, is evidence they work well in a two.

“We have only played in few games together as a two. Off the top of my head we played 15 minutes against Southampton, 15 minutes against Newcastle and in pre-season,” he said.

“That is it before this season. He scored against Southampton to get us back to 2-2 and scored in the win over Newcastle as well.

“We had a lot of moments in pre-season where we nearly linked up and in a few more weeks those things will come off because everyone is on the same wavelength.”