Referee Mike Dean tried to claim an assist for one of Watford's goals against Aston Villa, according to Ben Foster.

Speaking on JaackMaate’s Happy Hour podcast, the goalkeeper told a story about the referee trying to take credit for the part he played in the build up to one of the three strikes in the 3-2 win on the first day of the season, by allowing the Hornets an advantage following a foul.

While Foster suggested the goal Dean tried to claim a part in was "the very first" highlights show that the referee did not play an advantage for the Emmanuel Dennis goal that opened the scoring, but that he did wave play on following a foul on Juraj Kucka before Cucho Hernandez added goal number three.

Tom Cleverley told his teammates after the game that Dean let the players on the pitch know he was responsible for the finish.

“Mike Dean’s the referee. Everybody knows Mike Dean’s a character anyway," said Foster.

“In the build up to the very first goal, I think there was a little bit of a bad challenge, but he allowed play to continue.

“So we’ve carried on going and then we’ve scored a goal.

"Clevs is walking back around the half-way line. Mike Dean comes bowling past him and says: ‘Assist for Mike Dean’.

“So he’s just buzzing off the fact that he’s allowed play to go on, and then we’ve gone and scored from it.

“Clevs has come into the changing room afterwards: ‘lads, lads, listen to this, listen to what Mike Dean said…’ We were crying honestly it was world class."