Javi Gracia says Watford will appeal Etienne Capoue’s late sending off in the 2-0 defeat at Leicester City.

The Hornets midfielder was dismissed for what referee Graham Scott deemed a dangerous two-footed challenge on Foxes substitute Kelechi Iheanacho in front of the dugouts.

The Hornets boss said: “I saw it clear because it was in front of me. I prefer not to say anything only what Iheanacho said. He said Capoue didn’t touch him and that is more important than what I can say.”

Asked if he thought an appeal stood a good chance, Gracia responded: “It doesn’t depend on me but we are going to appeal.”

It was another day when the Hornets were left to lament missed opportunities as Isaac Success and Andre Gray spurned the best chances to get the visitors back into the contest after a Jamie Vardy penalty and James Maddison had put the Foxes in control in the first half.

Commenting on the opportunities that went begging, Gracia said: “Today I think it was different. We dominated the possession, I think we had 62 per cent, but it wasn’t enough to finish the action. We created chances but we didn’t shoot on target.

“We need to be demanding, we need to improve these situations because as you can see in these last games we are losing points, we are losing options to get better results because we are not efficient enough.

“When you score goals you feel more confident and maybe you finish better. But when you don’t score maybe, sometimes, you lose the confidence. But we did it in the past and I’m sure we’ll do it better in the future.”

Maddison’s fine solo effort came after the Hornets were exposed on the counter attack and Gracia admitted he was aware of the threat the Foxes posed from these situations, although stopping it had proved to be another matter altogether.

The Hornets head coach said: “Before the game we knew they had scored eight goals from counter attacks. They have scored playing this way. Playing counter attack they have surprised us and he has scored the second goal and after it was a tough game for us. We knew it but they have very good players and they can do it."