KANE & VARDY CANNOT KNOCK DEADLY WOOD

JAVI GRACIA is confident he will discover the cure for travel sickness after clocking up another unwanted century at Watford.

In the colossal anti-climax of Walter Mazzarri’s reign last year, the Hornets went 104 days without an away goal and ushered the unlamented Italian out of the door with six consecutive defeats.

Gracia has credit in the bank at Vicarage Road after taking over from Marco Silva in January insulated by just a four-point cushion from the drop zone – the gap is now nine points and Watford are a heartbeat from safety.

But they have gone 103 days – 548 minutes of playing time – without finding the net on their travels again.

And Gracia is banking on a reciprocal ambush of struggling Huddersfield, who ended their own away goal famine with a controversial 4-1 win at Watford, studded by two red cards, four months ago.

The Terriers had gone 738 minutes without cheer on the road when David Wagner’s men conjured their biggest away in the top flight in 61 years, going back to Winston Churchill’s second term as Prime Minister.

But Gracia (above) said: “I’m always confident we will be able to score in the next game – not only to score, but to take points, which is the most important thing for me at the moment.

“The situation would be more difficult if we weren’t creating chances, but I feel we’re making opportunities to score in every match, even away from home.

“I’m not worried about how long we have gone without scoring – I prefer to think positively.”

Watford’s last two seasons have tailed off badly as soon as they hit the 40-point survival mark under Quique Sanchez Flores and Mazzarri.

They are still one win away from the nominal safety line after just one point from their last four outings and Gracia added: “We want to finish the season with a good feeling which we can take into next season as well.” CHRIS WOOD once kept Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane out of the Leicester team – but insists he has no regrets about leaving.

The New Zealand striker (above) is leading Burnley’s charge to qualify for Europe for the first time since the 1960s, while Vardy and Leicester are the opponents at Turf Moor today.

Wood spent just over two years at the King Power Stadium before moving on to Leeds, frustrated by a lack of game-time.

But he was indirectly responsible for one of the most famous football photographs of recent years because he helped keep Vardy and Kane on the bench for a key Championship play-off game.

Wood and David Nugent got the nod ahead of the current England strikers for a semi-final, second leg at Watford in 2013.

That was before Kane made his name at Tottenham and Vardy became the key figure in Leicester’s astonishing Premier League title triumph under Claudio Ranieri two years ago.

Wood said: “Jamie was starting to build his profile when I left and it’s just gone on to a bigger level.

“He’s a great player. I was fortunate enough to learn from him quite close. He runs in behind. He works hard.

“He’s got bags of pace which I don’t have. I’d love it if I did have his pace, then I’d be a very good striker.”

Wood, who joined Burnley from Leeds for £15million last August, has hit top form, with four goals in his past four games, and believes he made the right decision to leave Leicester – a year before they won the title.

He said: “I was in the stands for most of that season and I hated it.

“I was happy for them when they did win the title but I know if I’d have stayed there I would’ve been in the stands the whole time.

“It wouldn’t have really been my title because I wouldn’t have contributed.”

Burnley have won their past four league matches, with Sean Dyche picking up his first Premier League manager of the month award as a result.

The Clarets have not won five in a row in the top flight since 1968, and Dyche said: “It’s a sign of how well the players and the staff have done.

“In the Premier League, it’s very difficult to win it, so that’s fantastic work from my staff and the players.”