Don’t shout it loudly, but after a season when home wins were as rare as hen's teeth, Watford will head into tomorrow’s game with Derby at Vicarage Road as justifiable favourites.

However, head coach Tom Cleverley is working hard to ensure that what has been a good start doesn’t come tumbling down because a couple of victories at home leads to such successes being taken for granted.

“It’s my job to make sure there is no complacency creeping into the good feeling we have at the minute,” he said.

“To stay in the moment you have to be really disciplined in your basics and maintain your high standards because that’s where you grow consistency.

“We have quality in the squad, but first things first you have to make sure you are hard to beat.

“When you achieve that, you get consistency that grows.

“It’s never good to be complacent because in this game you’re never too far from things falling in on your head.

“So we double down on the high standards, we double down on the messages we are giving every day.

“But it’s nice to see a lot of our work on the training pitch is coming out on matchdays.”

Against a newly-promoted side at home off the back of a 100% start to the season means many will expect Watford to win.

“We have to work every game like we’re the underdog,” Cleverley stressed.

“I don’t know what the bookmaker’s odds on the game will be but we have to approach it like underdogs.

“I said to the players after the Gillingham and Wycombe games in pre-season that I wasn’t happy with how we got outmuscled, and our opponents were a little bit hungrier than us.

“Credit where it’s due, I think the players have put that right and I think our ratio of winning duals in the first two league games has been very good.

“Millwall are renowned for winning first and second contacts and yet I think we dominated in that area.

“I will always drum into the players about the basics, because doing the basics well are what this league is all about.”

This time next week the summer transfer window will be closing, and Cleverley won’t be sad to see the back of it.

“As long as the business we’re all working towards has happened then I think my workload will fall significantly once the window closes,” said the Watford boss.

“I can get back to the most enjoyable part of the job then.

“I’m very new to the experience but when there are major tournaments in the summer then business does get slower than usual, and then there is also the domino effect of pre-season tours and clubs needing to take players with them.

“But it is really starting to kick into action now and I’m sure the next few days will be active.”