Only four teams in the Premier League and Championship have failed to score a league goal since and including August 12, and Watford are one of them.

Indeed, all four of their goals so far came in that stunning first 45 minutes against QPR on the opening day, so it’s 315 minutes of football since the Hornets found the net in the league.

Perhaps there is some encouragement in that of the four teams who have drawn blanks since August 12, Watford have had far the most goal attempts.

The Hornets have registered 55 efforts on goal in the three games, ahead of Blackpool (48 in four games), Everton (43 in 3) and Cheltenham Town (34 in 4).

It won’t surprise anyone who saw the three games that only 10 of the 55 goal attempts forced a save, but 23 of them were blocked – perhaps confirming what head coach Valerien Ismael has been saying about decision making in the final third blighting the good approach work.

The shot map, supplied by Opta Analyst, reveals that of those 55 efforts, just two came from inside the six-yard box while more than half (28) were from outside the penalty area.

Indeed, the average distance of Watford’s 55 goal attempts in the last three league games has been fractionally more than 20 yards.

Matheus Martins has been the king of the long-range shot, with seven in those last three games. He’s the player that has had most of the goal attempts with 12, three of which forced saves and a fourth hit the woodwork.

It’s a sign of the way Ismael uses his full-backs to attack the box that Ryan Andrews has had the second most goal attempts in the last three games, although six of his seven were blocked (the other was saved).

Another statistic that jumps out is that in those three games, Watford have not registered a goal attempt any earlier than the seventh minute – on the opening day against QPR they had scored in 34 seconds!

Goal attempts have been evenly spread, 26 in the first half of games and 29 after the break.

On the chart, the circles represent the position on the pitch of each of the 55 attempts, and the larger the circle the higher the xG (expected goal) rating of that attempt.

Watford’s goal attempts in the last three games:

Martins 12 (3 saves, 1 hit woodwork, 4 blocked, 4 off target)

Andrews 7 (1 save, 6 blocked)

Asprilla 6 (2 saves, 4 off target)

Louza 5 (1 hit woodwork, 3 blocked, 1 off target)

Sema 5 (2 blocked, 3 off target)

Bayo 4 (1 blocked, 3 off target)

Dele-Bashiru 3 (1 saved, 2 blocked)

Morris 2 (1 blocked, 1 off target)

Hoedt 2 (1 saved, 1 off target)

Rajovic 2 (1 saved, 1 off target)

Sierralta 1 (1 saved)

Kone 1 (1 blocked)

Kayembe 1 (1 blocked)

Porteous 1 (1 off target)

Chakvetadze 1 (1 blocked)

Ince 1 (1 off target)

Ngakia 1 (1 blocked)