Watford legend John Barnes has backed Claudio Ranieri to give the Hornets a fighting chance of staying in the Premier League this season.

Barnes was providing coverage for Amazon Prime during Watford's narrow defeat to league leaders Chelsea on Wednesday evening and saw enough to suggest that the Italian could prevent his former club from dropping back down into the Championship.

Speaking to BonusCodeBets.co.uk he said Ranieri would improve things defensively soon and that he has been impressed by the head coach so far.

"Ranieri is doing a great job at Watford," said Barnes. "You know he’ll get it right defensively eventually but he’s not been there long enough to put his stamp on that.

"But they’re scoring goals and creating chances and teams that can do that down at the bottom have a chance of staying up. They scored against Everton and against [Manchester] United, and even against Chelsea they could have had two or three.

"I’ve been very impressed with Ranieri - the energy the players show, the belief, the fans are fantastic. Chelsea are probably the most consistent side in the country at the moment but they were lucky to come away from Watford with three points."