Tom Cleverley says he feels honoured to have been Watford captain for the opening three games of this season and was especially happy to pick up a win over Luton town.

The former Manchester United midfielder has been handed the skipper's armband in Troy Deeney's absence, leading the side to an unbeaten start in which they have conceded no goals.

Deeney's return to the match day squad on Saturday will give head coach Vladimir Ivic a decision to make regarding the captaincy, but Cleverley said he is happy to lead the team should he be called upon.

"It's an honour first of all," said the midfielder. "It's the club I've played more games for than any other in my career, I've seen the change from when I came on loan to coming back and I care a lot about this football club, so in only my third game as captain to have a win over Luton, is again an honour. We know it's only three games, so we're not getting carried away just yet.

"[The captaincy] is just game-by-game for me at the minute. Troy's my pal and he's the natural leader of the group, but whenever I'm asked to captain the club I feel like I'm up to the job and I'm proud to do it. It's game-by-game at the minute."

Watford Observer:

As one of the more senior members of the squad, Cleverley is enjoying the chance to help the younger players at the beginning of their career. 

He described the squad as an exciting one to work with and said the fans have a lot to look forward to.

"It's important that the guys have got players to look to and give advice and I just like to lead by example really," he said. "Not only on the playing field, but on the training field. I was lucky growing up to have so many top experienced pros and it certainly helps, so the lads would be silly not to learn from lads like Craig, Troy and Fozzy and myself. They all want to learn and it's a really exciting young group of players.

"It's good to play against them every day, it keeps us on our toes and it really is exciting. It's something for the fans to get excited around - you don't want to build them up too much yet, but there's promising futures in a lot of those lads."