Will Hughes lamented Watford’s inability to take their chances during Saturday’s 2-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

Javi Gracia’s men more than held their own for 80 minutes and had the better chances, with Troy Deeney’s low effort being well saved by Bernd Leno, Roberto Pereyra’s curling effort going just over and substitute Isaac Success’ strike hitting the post.

The Golden Boys had restricted Arsenal to very little going forward but they were made to pay for squandering those presentable opportunities when Craig Cathcart put through his own net with 10 minutes remaining.

Unai Emery’s side then sealed the win two minutes later through Mesut Ozil, leaving Watford wondering how they’d left the Emirates Stadium empty handed.

It is the second weekend in a row where the Hornets have been left to rue missed chances, with the Golden Boys spurning a host of opportunities to extend their lead against Fulham last week.

That profligacy came back to bite Watford when Aleksandar Mitrovic got the Cottagers back on level terms to secure Slavisa Jokanovic’s men a point.

It proved to be deja vu for Watford against the Gunners and midfielder Hughes was left to rue the Hornets’ inability to take their chances.

Hughes said: “I suppose that’s the difference. They had two shots on target in the game and scored two goals. We didn’t take our chances and unfortunately that cost us in the end. We created quite a few, myself included, but that was the difference.

“If you don’t take your chances, it’s going to come back and bite you. I think, like you said, for the first 80 minutes we did well. We pressed well, we dropped off at the right time and we created a lot of chances. But you’ve got to take them if you want to get a result and unfortunately, it didn’t happen today.”

Saturday’s defeat to the Gunners now means that Watford are without a win in four games in all competitions, having been knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Tottenham Hotspur on penalties in mid-week.

But despite recent results, Watford still remain in the top six and they have performed well in each of their seven Premier League matches so far.

Hughes, therefore, believes supporters have little to fear and the midfielder is targeting a return to winning ways when Bournemouth travel to Vicarage Road next weekend in the final match before the international break.

He said: “There’s no crisis here. I don’t think we’ve had a bad performance to date. We’ve lost to very good teams who will be up there this season so we’ve got nothing to be ashamed of and we’ll build on it again next week and look for the win against Bournemouth.”