Craig Dawson has admitted he has found life in the Premier League tough following his move to Watford.

The former West Bromwich Albion man put in a much-improved performance against Tottenham on Saturday after some sub-par efforts at the start of the season and he described the move to Vicarage Road as a "step up" in quality, after time in the Championship.

"I have played in the Premier League before, so I know all about it," said Dawson.

"But obviously coming to Watford, it's a great squad, we've got very talented players so you can see the step up straight away. Obviously the start of the season hasn't gone to plan, but we're working very hard during the week as a team, as management and staff as well to put things right and that's what we're going to do.

"I think you could see that today. The performance was there, just unfortunately we didn't get the result we needed."

Ahead of the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Watford head coach Quique Sanchez Flores said he wanted to work with Dawson to improve his confidence and the defender said the new boss had been a positive influence on both him and the rest of the squad.

"The manager is a very positive character and he's great for the lads," he said.

"We've had a good week's training and worked very hard and today we can't be down about the result - the performance was good and there's lots of positives to take so we'll get back on the training ground working hard.

"As a team I think the confidence has grown today and hopefully we can take that into the next game."