Claudio Ranieri is keen for Watford not to put too much pressure on Joao Pedro, after his heroics against Newcastle United.

The Brazilian has scored three goals in all competitions this season, including two from his last two matches, with Saturday's strike salvaging a point from the jaws of defeat against the Magpies.

Still only 20-years-old, Pedro is seen as a player with a huge amount of potential, but the Hornets' boss wants him to be able to develop slowly, rather than be expected to score important goals every week at this stage of his career.

"For me Joao Pedro is a ‘crack’. He’s young, has to improve a lot, but he’s one of the best young players in the Premier League," said Ranieri.

"For me Joao is a very good player but we have to leave him to improve slowly, slowly, without pressure on him.

"He has to improve a lot, he has very good skills, but slowly, slowly please."

The Italian said that it made sense for him to try and get the best out of Pedro and his other young and quick attacking teammates, like Emmanuel Dennis and Cucho Hernandez, by getting the ball down and playing along the ground.

However, he also said they have to be ready to fight against physical teams.

"We have very good strikers with skills," he said. "They’re very fast. Of course against solid teams, it’s much better to play on the ground, to play very fast and we will try to do our best. At the end of the Newcastle match, Joao Pedro scored a fantastic header, but that’s football.

"We must be ready for the battle now."