Walter Mazzarri defended his record as Watford head coach after their hammering by Tottenham Hotspur insisting the club are still ahead of their objective for this season.

The Hornets have suffered five defeats in seven games after being thrashed 4-1 by Spurs but Mazzarri shrugged of the latest setback by claiming the team are still on track to beat their target for the campaign.

Mazzarri, whose side dropped to 13th in the Premier League after the defeat, said: “From the first day I arrived I spoke with the club and the president. When we have spoken the first objective, which has always been the same, was to avoid relegation.

"In this moment, if we look at the table we are doing even better than the starting objective. We could have been where Crystal Palace are or other teams are but we aren’t. This has always been the first objective and we’re doing ok."

Watford have been crippled by injuries over the festive period and Mazzarri believes his team were doing something extraordinary prior to their squad being decimated.

The Italian said: “But I’m the first one to say before we had all the injuries and all the players missing we were doing something extraordinary.

"We were doing something much bigger than the expectations so this is something we also need to take into consideration."