Javi Gracia says Andre Gray’s display against Fulham was his best performance in a Watford shirt during his time at the club. 

Gray, who arrived from Burnley for a club record fee in August 2017, endured a tough first campaign at Vicarage Road, with Gracia largely favouring Troy Deeney as a lone striker after he replaced Marco Silva in January.

It meant Gray had to be content with a spot on the bench, although he was handed more opportunities by Gracia towards the end of last season, with the Spaniard deploying the former Burnley man up front alongside Deeney in Watford’s 2-1 win over Newcastle United in May.

After experimenting with two up front alongside Sampdoria in pre-season, Deeney and Gray have been fixtures in the starting line-up, with the latter enjoying a promising start to the campaign.

Gray has already scored three goals this season, having only netted five times last time around for the Hornets, and he got the Golden Boys off to a flying start against Fulham last weekend when he found the back of the net in 87 seconds.

Head coach Gracia was impressed by Gray’s performance against the Cottagers and he believes the former Burnley striker’s partnership with Deeney has been integral to Watford’s strong start to the season.

The Watford head coach said: “Two or three days ago I spoke with Andre and I told him, in my opinion, the last game was the best game he has played in all the period I have been here.

“Not just because he scored a goal. For me, he made good movements, played really well with or without the ball and he defended and attacked as well. It was a very good game in my opinion.

“Playing together I think we have more options to create chances to score and not only thinking attacking. We have found a good balance in the team, defending as well, because we need to be compact and strong defensively.

“We don’t want to concede chances to other teams. In this moment, we have found a good balance. A big part of this balance is because both (Gray and Deeney) are doing very good work.”

Another player who has caught the eye during the early weeks of the campaign has been Isaac Success.

The Nigerian was marginalised by Silva during his time at the helm and spent the second half of last season on loan at Malaga in La Liga.

Success has struggled for consistency during his time at Vicarage Road, but following a promising pre-season, which saw the 22-year-old return to training early, the former Granada man now looks a revitalised player.

A goal against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup in mid-week capped off a fine individual display and Gracia now believes Watford fans are seeing the same Success who performed so well for Granada in La Liga.

Gracia said: “Success now is not the same Success I knew when I arrived. When I arrived he started to train after being injured. He went on loan to Malaga and he started this pre-season training really well.

“This is the Success that I saw when playing at Granada. Last game, as you can see, he played really well scoring a goal again. He scored another goal again against Reading.

“He’s helping the team scoring goals, defending and he’s creating good chances for the team. I’m very happy with his behaviour and with his level.”