Nigel Pearson has been assessing the fitness of Troy Deeney before making any decisions on his Watford team selection for the game with Norwich City this evening.

After the Hornets improved following the introduction of Danny Welbeck on Saturday evening at Chelsea, questions arose over the team's reliance on their number nine.

Speaking ahead of the visit of the Canaries, Pearson said Welbeck was certainly in his mind for a starting place, but that he was keeping his decisions on team selection close to his chest.

"We'll assess Troy in the same way that we'll assess everybody," he said. "He's an important player for us, he's always been an important player for us, but when games come as quickly as they do at the moment, we have to look at different options at times, for sure.

"Whatever thoughts I've had on team selection, I'm certainly not going to discuss with you when actually the players are not aware of it at the moment. I think what's important with any squad is that there's healthy competition - we've got that.

"[Welbeck] has had long term injuries which, managing those and also looking at how the team has played, it's been not necessarily easy for him to get back in, but he's certainly in contention and that's something that I'm very pleased about.

"He's a player who has pace as well and that's something different, a different option. But, for sure, he's really focused on the job at hand and he's really keen to influence us, our club, in a positive way and that's important for us, to have players like that."

Watford go into the match on the back of three consecutive Premier League defeats, keeping them in a dangerous position above the relegation zone.

However, given the position the club was in when Pearson first arrived, the head coach said he is happy that Watford's fate is still in their own hands.

Should that be the case come the last day of the season, the head coach would not be too displeased.

"I remember saying, I don't know whether anybody else does, but if it goes to the last game of the season, I'll take it now," he said.

"But it would be more beneficial if we picked points up between now and the end of the season to ease that scenario, but again, I don't need to remind myself of those sorts of things because my focus and concentration is day-to-day being a part of the process that puts the players in a position to perform. That's really all it's about.

"I can't waste time and energy on other things at the moment. We know how important it is now to get results - we've struggled to pick the results up that we want, but we'll continue to work really hard to be in control of our own destiny and that's what we have to do."