Watford sporting director Cristiano Giaretta has backed the club's spirit to improve defensive frailties sufficiently to achieve the goal of Premier League survival this season.

Speaking on the club's new Thursday night show, Inside the Hive, the Italian talked about the Hornets' season so far and where he feels they need to improve.

After highlighting the defence as an area of concern, he said that the players' chemistry, along with new head coach Claudio Ranieri, would be a key ingredient in their success this campaign.

"In my opinion we brought a lot of quality in the squad, especially in midfield and up front," said Giaretta.

"Up front we are very competitive with Sarr, King, Joao Pedro, Cucho Hernandez, Dennis they’re all amazing players and they’re players who can all change the game during the game. At Everton once Dennis and Joao went in they killed the game and they helped a lot their teammates, so we have a lot of quality. We also increased the level in the midfield, we trust also all the defenders that we have.

"Defence is somewhere that is not performing at the level we expected but they will increase very soon because with the help of the manager now, especially with the help of the new manager, they’re helping a lot, they’re working on the defensive phase.

"But it’s not only about the defence, it’s about all the squad, the spirit. It’s important to have the spirit of the group because I know the changing room, I know the group, there’s no dichotomy in the group, there’s no envy, it’s important.

"They have good spirit, if you come to the canteen, you will see ten players eating together, so the atmosphere is fantastic. I’m sure with this atmosphere, with this spirit, with this chemistry, we will survive in the Premier League."

With ten points from their first ten games, things could have been much worse for Watford so far this season, but Giaretta is eyeing up further improvement, despite being pleased with the overall output.

"We have a lot of room for improvement in the team for sure but if we analyse game by game, we did something good," he said.

"We had a very good start against Aston Villa which was very important to instil some important confidence, now the only issue that we have is about the last game. It ruined a kind of plan about this moment, but ten points from our first ten games is not bad. It’s not bad at all. As I said, we are working hard to improve and I’m sure that we’re going to grow to be better and better."