Watford vow to keep eye on the ball

WATFORD caretaker manager Hayden Mullins has backed his players to focus on the job at hand as they travel to Arsenal today looking to secure their top-flight status.

The Hornets sit 18th in the table and need to better Aston Villa’s result at West Ham to stand any chance of avoiding relegation.

Mullins took charge last weekend following the shock departure of Nigel Pearson but could not stop Watford falling to a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City on Tuesday.

The defeat, coupled with Aston Villa’s surprise win over Arsenal, means Watford face the Gunners knowing their fate is no longer in their own hands.

But Mullins feels his players will be able to keep their minds occupied on the task of getting a result at the Emirates Stadium and not concern themselves with what is happening elsewhere.

‘For the players, once the game starts a lot of the emotion and what is going on outside of the game goes away,’ said Mullins.

‘There is so much going on on the pitch it is really hard to focus on what is going on off it.’

Under normal circumstances, results from other games often filter down from the stands but that will not be the case this time.

Mullins insists he will not have anyone watching the Villa game, or 19th-placed Bournemouth’s trip to Everton, but is likely to know what is going on and how it impacts on what Watford need to do to stay up.

‘I don’t think we will have anyone tuned in specifically,’ he said. ‘We will probably find out what is going on. It is just natural that there are people around who will have to keep us up to date.’