A bemused Quique Sanchez Flores reflected on the “very weird” involvement of VAR after Watford were denied a first Premier League win of the season at Tottenham Hotspur, but felt that a 1-1 draw has to be viewed as a “good result” in the cold light of day.

Abdoulaye Doucoure’s early goal had set the Hornets on their way to a first victory of the campaign and it increasingly looked like they would get it until controversy reigned four minutes from the end when Dele Alli’s equaliser was allowed to stand after a VAR review, despite the big screens showing ‘no goal’.

It looked like the goal could have been disallowed for Alli controlling the ball with his upper arm, but the Hornets head coach took issue with another incident earlier in the build-up.

“I think there’s a foul from [Harry] Kane on [Christian] Kabasele. He pushed him with two hands. That is my opinion.

“We are losing something, I don’t know. It is very weird. Now there are many interpretations and it is difficult to know what happens in secret (where VAR decisions are made).”

The Hornets also had cause to feel aggrieved in the first half when a VAR penalty check did not rule in their favour when Gerard Deulofeu was challenged by Jan Vertonghen in the area.

Sanchez Flores had no doubts though, and said: “You probably saw it more times than me, but my opinion is the same. It’s very clear. It’s a penalty.”

He also added pointedly: “I was thinking that VAR was something objective, but I’m starting to think it’s subjective.”

Turning to his side’s performance, the head coach said: “Sometimes we were defending a little bit deep but they have very good players. Sometimes when the central defenders could drive and get into positions close to box it was very difficult. But I thought the team was really safe and always with the possibility to create opportunities on the counter-attack.

“I saw many teams playing against Tottenham when we were analysing in the week. Newcastle, how they won here, Southampton, how they played, and I think we played much better but we could just draw. Just draw sounds a little bit weird because they got the goal with four minutes left, but if we are realistic and thinking before the match, to draw here is a good result.”