Ben Foster celebrated his 500th club appearance on Sunday as Watford lost narrowly away at Arsenal.

The veteran goalkeeper saved a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang penalty, but was unable to prevent Emile Smith Rowe from bagging the winning goal in the second half.

While he was pleased to have reached the milestone, he was still focused on the result in the game and the disappointment he felt about going home empty handed.

“I didn’t even know it was my 500th today,” Foster told the club website.

“It’s brilliant and I never thought I’d get to 500 games, but really it’s all about the result, that’s all that matters. Especially with the position we’re in it would have been great if we could’ve nicked a point, but it wasn’t to be.

“I think we were decent, we were in the game. Playing away at Arsenal you know you’re going to concede chances, and that’s the way it played out. We just weren’t able to really go for the throat, but fair play to Arsenal they’re a good team.”

The first half penalty save showed that at 38 Foster is still capable of keeping out some of the best players in the Premier League.

The keeper said he had originally expected the Arsenal striker to aim the other way, but believes his last minute adjustment was a demonstration of the experience he has acquired over the years.

“He wasn’t supposed to go that way,” he joked.

“We looked at the penalties beforehand and he wasn’t supposed to go that way. He was supposed to go to the left. I just saw something as he was putting the ball down and I decided to go down to my right. I think that’s down to my age and experience.”

With the Hornets sitting just two points above the relegation zone in 17th and at the start of a tough run of matches, the players know they are more than likely going to be involved in a difficult fight at near the bottom of the table this season.

However, Foster says the players fully believe they have enough in the squad to avoid the drop.

“We’ve got belief. There’s no point moping around. You can never look too far ahead," he said.

"We know the fixtures look tough on paper, but you just take each one as it comes. As cliché as it sounds, that’s what you do. I couldn’t even tell you what order those games are in, I just look at the next one and that’s it.

“We need to use our nous a little bit more and we need to be a bit cleverer going forward. We know we might not be able to match these teams technically, but we can match them in fight and will, and all that sort of stuff.”