John Barnes has questioned Watford's decision to replace head coach Quique Sanchez Flores and believes the club could face a battle to stay up next season.

The Hornets finished 13th in the Premier League following promotion and also reached the FA Cup semi-finals but Flores is leaving this summer after one season in charge.

Watford legend Barnes told Gazzetta World: "When you're a club like Watford and others, Portsmouth and teams like that - look where they are now and they had ambitions to push on.

"You don't push on after one season. A club like Swansea who've been in the Premier League for maybe four or five years or Stoke, then you can say 'Now that we've cemented our position in the Premier League, we can now look to be more ambitious'."

Barnes continued: "You can't come up, be relegation favourites and because you stayed up, then say 'Let's look to push on'. You have to consolidate, regularly finishing in the next four or five years in mid-table - then you can look to push on.

"From next season, the name of the game for Watford is fourth from bottom."