JAVI’S TAKING HARD-LINE APPROACH

WATFORD manager Javi Gracia seemed to suggest near neighbours Arsenal might have a discipline problem after pictures of their players surfaced appearing to show them inhaling ‘hippy crack’ from balloons.

He said: “It wouldn’t happen here. My players know the rules.”

The Spaniard, 48 (left) spoke in the wake of the pictures appearing in a national paper. Watford now use the training ground once owned by Arsenal and only a wire fence separates them from the Gunners’ London Colney base.

Gracia said: “I don’t know anything about that, about balloons. It’s not my problem.

“I accept it is not easy but you try to manage and if you put rules in the beginning, they all know what happens if you don’t have good behaviour.”

Gracia signed a new four-year contract last month which keeps him at Vicarage Road until 2023 – or until the club’s famously trigger-happy owners start twitching again.

Tomorrow’s opponents Everton are bossed by Marco Silva, sacked by Watford after a run similar to the one Gracia is on now.

He said: “I know other managers have been sacked for less. As we all know, that decision is not your decision. It’s the decision of the owners – I accept that.

“And no, I’ve not bought a house here yet.”