Watford vs Everton - Sanchez fully focused on ending Watford slump

Posted Friday, April 08, 2016 by PA

Quique Sanchez Flores believes Watford's next Barclays Premier League match "is not about Everton", but rather his own side as he attempts to stop their alarming mid-season slump.

Despite an impressive start on their return to the top-flight, Watford have won just two of their 12 league matches since the turn of the year and have emerged as late relegation candidates.

On Saturday, they host an Everton side who have accumulated just one more point in a season where manager Roberto Martinez has come under increasing pressure for his team's stop-start league form.

But Flores believes Saturday's fixture at Vicarage Road should centre around how Watford can respond from four successive league defeats, in which they have scored just one goal, instead of their opponent's own concerns.

"The next match against Everton is not about Everton," said Flores. "I respect Everton a lot - they have amazing players and an amazing coach - but the next match is about Watford. It is about what happens with us and how we are going to react."

Flores, who has no fresh injury concerns ahead of Saturday's encounter, enjoyed his first taste of the Premier League against Everton in their 2-2 draw on the opening day of the season.

And the Spaniard, a former manager at Getafe, Atletico Madrid and Valencia, has lauded his countryman Martinez ahead of their second meeting.

"I love Roberto," Flores added. "The first conversation I had with him was after the match against Everton - the first match in the league - it was an amazing conversation.

"He gave advice to me about the Premier League, the conduct of the English players, the foreign players and how it is like to manage in the Premier League.

"He is a very good man and a very good example for the Spanish managers. We look at Roberto like an English citizen because he thinks more like an English man than a Spanish man but he doesn't forget that he is Spanish also."

Midfielder Valon Behrami will return to the Hornets' squad after he missed the defeat at Arsenal through sickness.

Meanwhile, Martinez hopes it is Everton rather than Watford that can emerge from their Barclays Premier League slump when the two FA Cup semi-finalists meet.

Involvement in the latter stages of the cup has brought the league campaigns of both teams to a grinding halt, with Everton losing their last three matches and Watford their last four.

Coincidentally, Everton's next league game after Watford is against the Hornets' FA Cup opponents Crystal Palace, who have not won a league game in 2016.

Toffees boss Martinez said: "You can work on every aspect of the game, and every technicality, but confidence comes with achieving good results and feeling good about yourself.

"It's something we need to regain with a good performance and getting back to winning ways. It's as simple as that. We need to simplify it.

"We should forget about the semi-final. Every team that got through to the semi-finals, they haven't won a game in the league.

"That's probably something that happens when you reach a real high, it's difficult to reach the same level in the next few games. That's why we need to control the level of performance in the game against Watford.

"They are in a similar situation. First and foremost I think Watford have had an outstanding season.

"We faced them in the opening game of the campaign, they surprised us with how quickly they got into the tempo of the Premier League, how well organised Quique Sanchez Flores had the team, the partnership that has been so successful playing up front, and I think they are not a surprise any more.

"What they are doing in the cup is probably what makes it a really interesting game. Both sides are desperate to get the form into the league."

Leon Osman and Steven Pienaar are both doubtful after missing last weekend's defeat by Manchester United with knocks but fellow midfielder Gareth Barry returns from suspension.