It would be reasonable to say that the six points Watford took from their five games in February was less than they could, and should, have achieved.

And because of that, the spotlight falls very vividly on March as the Hornets enjoy three of their four fixtures at Vicarage Road.

Of course, that brings with it increased expectation of good results and anticipation of a far higher points haul.

Bearing that in mind, would anything less that nine points from the three home games worry Slaven Bilic?

“It wouldn’t worry me, but it also wouldn’t be enough,” he admitted.

“Forget the next three or four games: we have to win tomorrow.

“It’s not over if we don’t win, but we can’t be even a little bit happy if we don’t win tomorrow.

“Make no mistake, you don’t need 36 points from these last 12 games, but you can’t calculate that we might draw the next three and then win the other nine.

“More or less, 90% of the players we are going to use in these 12 games are fit.”

The February fixtures were particularly tough given the league position of the opposition, and Bilic said while five points was less than he wanted or felt his side should have got, it kept them ticking over.

“I believe we should have won at Reading and home to Blackburn, then even at Burnley away we should have won. We beat West Brom and then we lost at Sheffield United,” he said.

“But we came through that run of games, and we have been counting on these next fixtures because we have our players back and fit.

“Six weeks ago me and my staff and the medical team were talking about this next period because we knew that by then the expectation was that most of our injured players would be available again.

“We started to integrate players that were coming back during last month in a tough run of games. But now we’ve done it, and while we’re not happy with the points we’ve taken in the last few weeks we have done that part.

“Now we have the team and it is the time to go. We are all aware of that.

“We wanted to be first or second of course, but we didn’t also want to enter this period having dropped so much we’d need a miracle to recover.

“We’re not happy about the situation we are in, but we know things are still in our hands. We just have to do it now.

“I’m expecting us to play better now and keep improving – players improve from playing their second game after being out to playing their sixth game after being out.

“The most critical period for Louza, for Pedro, for Sema, was the first three games back. They have done that, and now they have come through them that is the reason for our optimism.”

Bilic said he remains upbeat about the remainder of the season because of the strength of the Watford team more than because of the relative league positions of the teams they have still to play.

“The run of fixtures and how they look on paper is secondary. The first reason for optimism is having the players and seeing what we do in training on a daily basis,” he said.

“On paper it looks an easier run-in than the games that have gone. And that means something. It’s not like we’re five games in and the table looks weird.

“Many games have passed and the teams are where they are, including us, for good reasons.

“So the games coming up look easier – on paper. But we have to use that to ensure we are better motivated. Just because it looks better on paper our goal still has to be very good performances, because the results we want will not come because of what things look like on paper.

“Even more than ever we have to be motivated and perform, because we have a chance and this is a chance we cannot afford to waste.

“There are 12 games to go. You cannot now have a little bit of a blip and still expect to have a chance after that.

“To be fair, I don’t like to think too much about the 12 games. We have a game tomorrow at home tomorrow against Preston, and we are fully focussed and aware of the challenge.”

This midweek’s FA Cup results saw three Championship sides reach the last eight, including Sheffield United and Blackburn who have drawn each other in the quarter-finals.

Bilic admits he is happy for them both to have the lure of a Wembley semi-final in their minds.

“Definitely, because being involved in the latter stages of the FA Cup does make a difference,” he said.

“It’s odd to see three Championship teams in the last eight. It’s good for Sheffield United and Blackburn to have something else to focus on.

“When you get to the quarter-finals, you can’t say you’re not interested in it. Especially because they are playing each other, so one of them will play in a semi-final.

“It’s good that they will play one or two extra big games, but also we don’t need to rely on that. We don’t need a miracle.

“What we need is to look after ourselves. We have a good team that is looking good in training and we have a home game tomorrow. Now let’s do it.”