Fernando Forestieri insists he is happy at Watford despite finding his path to the first team blocked by what he perceives to be the best strike-force in the Championship.

The diminutive Argentine attacker has made just ten league starts this season – and only two in the last three months – due to a combination of injury and the form of his striking peers.

But despite finding himself reduced to the role of back-up, Forestieri has stressed he is keen to remain at Vicarage Road in the long term and fight for his place.

He stated: “I am very happy. I have a contract for a long time (until 2018) and I am very happy with my life in Watford. I am happy being close to London, I love the support for Watford and I love this club. If I play it is better but at the moment I can’t. I believe if I stay here I will be very happy.

“Yes, I am not playing too many games this season because we have three other strikers. I think (Odion) Ighalo is the first choice at the moment because every time he touches it he scores.

“I need to work every day and maybe with 15 games left I will finish by playing. I need to work for myself and for the team. If I come on in every game, I need to help my team.”

Forestieri’s views on the wealth of striking talent available to head coach Slavisa Jokanovic mirror that of Swiss midfielder Almen Abdi. 

And while the continued goal-scoring exploits of Ighalo spell bad news for the 25-year-old’s own playing prospects, Forestieri knows it is to the benefit of the club.

He explained: “I think at the moment we have strikers in Deeney and Ighalo who are playing very well and I am very happy because I teach them or they teach me every day. This is good because we have four very talented strikers.”

With Ighalo in the form of his career, striking berths are hard to come by presently, meaning Forestieri has been utilised in a midfield role on more than one occasion in recent weeks.

The Rosario-born forward does not envy the task facing Jokanovic when it comes to whittling his talented squad into a starting XI and 18-man squad.

“We need to play 4-2-4 because we have four strikers,” joked Forestieri when asked if he was a victim of the 3-5-2 formation being used.

“Maybe if we played 4-3-3 then we would play (Troy) Deeney, (Matej) Vydra and Ighalo and I would stay on the bench [anyway]. The formation is impossible because we have four very strong strikers.

“At this moment I don’t know what position I will play because the last two games I have played as a midfielder. I did not play as a striker.

“When we play 3-5-2 I never play up front, I think I only did with (ex-head coach Beppe) Sannino when he was here. With this coach at the moment I do not play in this position. [But] I am happy to help the team,” he added.

Someone else who has helped the team in recent weeks is Jokanovic.

The Serbian is now by some distance the Hornets’ longest-serving head coach this season and appears to have got his message across in recent weeks, with Watford winning nine of their last 12 league games.

Asked if the former Chelsea midfielder had made the Golden Boys more resilient and harder to beat, the former Malaga forward mused: “Yes, maybe, because he shows us everyday how he wants us to improve the play; playing quickly, playing more easily. Maybe he has helped us.

“I do not know if he has improved the play [yet] but we have been lucky because in some games we are playing so-so but in the last minute we win. And sometimes (Heurelho) Gomes has saved us three or four times. I don’t know if he has improved us, maybe we are just lucky,” Forestieri joked.

As one of the original imports from the Pozzo family’s European pool, Forestieri is well placed to judge the current crop against their predecessors.

Pleasingly for Hornets supporters, they come out favourably.

“Yes [this is the best squad we have had] along with the first year.

“The first year I was here was unbelievable because we played at Wembley and that was a good experience.

“The second year Watford were so-so but this year we are playing much better and I hope we can top the table, finish second or in the play offs.”