With goals, and even chances, so hard to come by for Watford, it’s perhaps surprising that Keinan Davis and Henrique Araujo have only been on the pitch together for a total of 72 minutes in the seven games since the Portguese striker joined on loan.

Indeed, 71 of those minutes were at Reading when Araujo led the line and Davis played in the more withdrawn ‘number 10’ role.

When Araujo joined, head coach Slaven Bilic said he thought the two could player together given time.

However, he has stuck with his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, meaning it’s been a case of one or the other. Against Preston it was Araujo in the first half, Davis in the second.

As goals have dried up, has the time come to try a different formation?

“Two rather than one? We finished the game like that,” said Bilic.

“To be fair, you are losing too much and it’s more like gambling, you know.

“In modern football teams who play with two strikers don’t have orthodox wingers, they play with midfielders there or with full-backs who are great offensively.

“I’m not sure we have that at the moment. We’ve done it a few times and finished like that today.

“We’ve done it a few times and we lost our stability on the pitch.

“I don’t mind finishing the game like that or playing one part of a game like that, but to start a game with that? I’m not saying the opponent will be more dangerous towards our goal, but I’m saying we wouldn’t create enough.

“We have tried it a few times, not from the start I agree.”

Having billed the Preston match as ‘must win’, but only taken a point, Bilic now finds his side four points adrift of the play-off places with time running out.

“We couldn’t expect 36 points from 12 games, but maybe 26 or 27. Still there are enough points to play for and we don’t need to win all remaining games to get there,” he said.

“It would be totally naïve and stupid to think we’re going to win the last 10 on the spin. It can happen, but it can’t be your plan.

“That’s why we are disappointed we didn’t win because it was a must-win. It’s not over because we didn’t win. It’s not a cup final, or the last game of the season.

“But realistically we have to win games. To win a game is not enough: we have to win games, plural.”