When Watford step out at Vicarage Road tomorrow night they will be the only team in England’s top four divisions still unbeaten at home since Tom Cleverley took over as interim head coach in March.
With Manchester City losing 4-0 to Tottenham at the weekend, it means the Hornets are the only side left that hasn’t lost at home since March 10.
“It’s something we’re proud of, and something we can build strong foundations from,” said Tom Cleverley, who heads into the game with Bristol City at Vicarage Road with no new injury concerns.
“What we have to do is work as hard as we can to preserve this record.
“We know we have to start keeping more clean sheets because I’ve always said that your defensive record and home form are what gives you success in this division.
“We’ve got one and need to preserve it, we need to work on the other.
“I feel like everyone is very positive about the first third of the season we’ve had, but I feel there is a lot of improvement in us.
“I can’t wait to bring that out.”
Defender Festy Ebosele returns to the squad after missing Friday’s game due to a one-match ban, and midfielder Pierre Dwomoh is available after illness ruled him out of the game at Home Park.
Jeremy Ngakia is available for selection and, should he be in the squad tomorrow night, it will be his first involvement since the 3-0 win over Stoke City on August 17.
“He’s a high-class player that can bring something different to the squad,” said Cleverley.
“We all know he’s had his injury problems and he won’t be ready to start tomorrow, but him being in and around the squad on a matchday will be a good boost for him as well as for us.”
Striker Daniel Jebbison’s hip problem that ruled him out on Friday will sideline him again tomorrow, although Cleverley said it was “not a serious injury”.
Angelo Ogbonna is still two or three weeks away from being available for selection, but there was a positive update on Tom Dele-Bashiru.
“I’m able to bring positive news on Tom, and more positive than I could have been a week or two ago where we didn’t know how serious his knee injury was,” said Cleverley.
“It’s been a very positive couple of weeks of rehab for him, and we’re looking at him being back in a couple of weeks if all goes smoothly from here.”
Tomorrow’s visitors have not won at home since September 21, but not lost away since September 14.
“I’d say City are one of the exceptions in what is a pretty home-heavy league this year,” Cleverley pointed out.
“I have a lot of respect for them, and they have dabbled between two systems this season.
“I went to watch them against Burnley at the weekend and you can see they have a clear way of playing.
“They will cause teams a lot of problems and they are very high on the out-of-possessions stats. We’ll have to be very efficient on the ball to break them down.”
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