Quiquie Sanches Flores has returned to Watford as head coach for a second spell following the depature of Javi Gracia.

Owner Gino Pozzo and chairman Scott Duxbury have acted following a poor start to the Premier League season which has seen the Hornets take only one point from their opening four league games, leaving them without a win in eight matches in the top-flight dating back to last season.

Gracia's departure was confirmed this afternoon and a short time later it was announced that fellow Spaniard Sanchez Flores would be returning to the club who he led in their first season back in the Premier League.

Announcing the end of Gracia's 18-month tenure, a club statement read: "Watford Football Club confirms the departure of head coach Javi Gracia.

Chairman and chief excecutive Scott Duxbury said: “Javi has represented Watford with great dignity and will always be deserving of our fullest respect for his achievements.

Javi Gracia’s staff will also be leaving the club, ahead of the imminent appointment of a new coaching team.

Everyone at the Hornets wishes Javi and his staff all the very best for the future, and they will always be welcome visitors in the future at Vicarage Road."

Although Gracia's time at Vicarage Road ended in disappointing fashion, he leaves having become only the second ever manager or head coach to lead the Hornets out in an FA Cup final and having taken them to an 11th place finish last season, the club's highest ever position in the Premier League.

Sanchez Flores returns to Vicarage Road for a second spell having guided the Hornets to a mid-table finish during the 2015/16 season and also taking them to an FA Cup semi-final.

However, his departure was confirmed before the final game of that campaign, with the Spaniard stating the Hornets hierarchy did not share his view of how the season had gone.

After leaving Vicarage Road, the 54-year-old led Espanyol to an eighth-place finish in La Liga and also managed Shanghai Shenhua in China.

Sanchez Flores' return is the 10th change in head coach since the Pozzo takeover of the Hornets in the summer of 2012.