A “confident but realistic” Quique Sanchez Flores believes he can lead Watford out of relegation trouble and took positives from the chances they created as their struggles in front of the opposition goal continued in the 0-0 draw with Bournemouth.

The Hornets remain at the bottom of the Premier League after failing to win at the 10th attempt this season, ensuring they remain the only side in the top four divisions of English football without a victory to their name so far in 2019/20.

The hosts needed Ben Foster to make a number of good saves to keep the Cherries at bay. By the same token though, Abdoulaye Doucoure spurned a great opportunity after a minute and Aaron Ramsdale also made strong stops to deny Gerard Deulofeu and Will Hughes.

Sanchez Flores admits his side’s goal tally is not good enough with just five to their name to date in the league, but would be more concerned if they were not creating opportunities.

He said: “I think it’s better not to create dramas. It’s true that the numbers say we don’t score too much but the most difficult thing in football is to create attempts and against Sheffield [United], today even we had very clear attempts, so we don’t need to be worried for that.

“At the moment we are creating, it’s okay. At the moment we stop creating attempts we should be worried.”

Asked about the Hornets’ predicament at the top-flight basement, he responded: “I am confident but realistic too. I know that we are working really hard and I know how the players are training every single week and how confident they are in the tactics and the systems.

“I know they deserve to win in this period but football is really capricious sometimes so you need to wait. At the moment we are creating something that is solid for the future.”

The Hornets’ head coach, who explained Tom Cleverley was replaced in the early stages due to a heel problem, said of his side’s second successive goalless draw at Vicarage Road: “The feeling we have when we finished was the game was really tough, really even. Both teams pushed a lot to try to score, both teams defended well.

“We are more mature defending but sometimes we are not making good decisions in the final third. That is part of the process but that is normal in this situation because the players don’t feel completely relaxed to take the decisions, but I want to think in a positive way and we are creating a good base for the future.”