The Watford Gianfranco Zola left in December 2013 is very different to the Watford of 2015. Vicarage Road has changed. The division the Hornets compete in has changed. And the players, well they’ve changed an awful lot.

Of the bloated first-team squad the Italian managed to the Play-Off final during the 2012/2013 season only eight remain attached to the club.

They are Joel Ekstrand, Essaid Belkalem, Tommie Hoban, Daniel Pudil, Almen Abdi, Ikechi Anya, Matej Vydra and Troy Deeney.

Of those eight only three have been able, for various different reasons, to establish themselves in the Premier League. Anya. Abdi. Deeney.

They are a trio Zola speaks warmly of. All three played important roles during his time in charge at Vicarage Road and continue to do so under Quique Sanchez Flores.

Deeney was the battering ram, the calm finisher and the leader of the side. “Troy is a very, very good player, somebody who was always too good in the Championship,” Zola said.

“The level of the Championship was always too low for him. Now he’s in the Premier League and he is playing at a much higher level. It is a huge difference.

“He is of course still adapting to the Premier League and I am sure he will be stronger during the second half of the season.

“He has great qualities though and they will always come out.”

Abdi was the creator in Zola’s midfield. The Italian felt the 29-year-old could do it all.

There was a reason he dubbed the Swiss international ‘the Professor’.

“Almen is a great player, somebody I loved to coach,” Zola explained. “He is a very intelligent person too. In my second season he was injured a lot.

“He was perhaps the player we missed most that season and who knows what would’ve happened if he had stayed fit.

“He was that important for us. He can do everything. He can keep the ball, score goals or create goals. It doesn’t surprise me that he is playing well in the Premier League.”

And then there is Anya. The versatile wideman who never stopped running.

“Ikechi is a great person and he has so much energy,” Zola said. “From the first day he arrived he was always really positive and was always smiling.

“And he keeps getting better. He is a player who can play in any position. He is quick, strong and has developed a lot of footballing intelligence, too. He is a very good player.”

Zola’s affection for Watford is undiminished despite his time with the Golden Boys ending almost two years ago.

He spoke to Hornets owner Gino Pozzo before the Premier League campaign began to wish the Italian good luck and talks regularly to the head of sports science Gianni Brignardello.

“There are a lot of good people at Watford,” Zola said. “I haven’t spoken to Troy or any of the players in a while but I am really happy they’re in the Premier League.

“I am delighted for them, the club and the fans because they really deserve it. I’ve seen a couple of their games this season and they are doing really well. They have a good manager and I think they will stay up.”