Roy Hodgson felt that, on another day, Watford might have got something from their narrow 3-2 defeat to Arsenal.

The manager lay the blame for the defeat at the feet of "technical mistakes" from his players, but said he would not criticise anyone in his squad for making such errors.

"This is Watford at the bottom of the table against Arsenal," said Hodgson. "They haven't lost a game since God knows when, they've got about two games in hand and they're one point behind the top four in the country.

"We always knew that we were going to have to pull out a lot of stops to get something from the game. I don't think I can ask any more from the players and what they gave Watford Football Club and the fans today, I really don't. I think in other circumstances we could have got something from the game, quite simply because the two goals we conceded, unfortunately, the second and third goal, they weren't good goals to concede that's for sure.

"They came from quite clear technical mistakes, but technical mistakes are part of the game, we understand that and you don't criticise your players for making a technical mistake. Under other circumstances, we might not have made those mistakes and we might not have conceded those goals."

Hodgson made himself unpopular with the supporters at Vicarage Road in the second half when he substituted Imran Louza, replacing him with Edo Kayembe.

The manager said it was an opportunity to learn more about a player he knows little about.

"The fans got have got their favourites," he said "I like Louza as well, I think he's a very good player. But we don't know Kayembe that well and certainly the people at the club believe that he also is an excellent player. He plays in the same positions as Louza.

"At three goals to one I thought Imran was looking a little bit tired. We've got two games coming up, I thought it was the right moment to give him a rest and let's see what Kayembe can do for 30 minutes.

"But the thing is the fans will pick players that that are their favourites and I have players unfortunately at this club, which are obviously not their favourites. And my problem is that the ones that are not their favourites are the ones that are doing the best job for us.

"Unfortunately we have taken over a team where the fans have decided long ago who their favourites are and who their favourites aren't.

"I've got to keep trying to pick the team to win games and not pick the team the fans would like to see because I don't trust their judgement all the time."