Watford V Norwich at Vicarage Road Stadium: LIVE

05 December 2015 07:24
Watford V Norwich - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.

Flores ignores daunting festive fixtures to focus on Norwich clash

Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores fears he will go "crazy" if he starts to look at his side's challenging festive fixture list.

The Hornets entertain Norwich in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday before travelling to Sunderland for their next match.

But after their visit to the Stadium of Light, Watford face Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and then Manchester City in successive matches over the Christmas period.

"What happens in two weeks, and what happens next month, I try to avoid that because I don't want to go crazy," said Flores, whose Watford side are an impressive 11th in the Premier League table.

"I don't have an idea about Liverpool, I don't want to know about Manchester City. I don't want to know about Chelsea and I don't want to know about Tottenham.

"My main focus for the staff and players is to try to translate what kind of match we want to play at the weekend.

"We have to play against all teams in the league, so three points against Norwich is the same value as three points against Liverpool. The most important thing is to be ready and to be competitive again against Norwich."

After back-to-back defeats against Leicester and Manchester United, Watford - in their first season back in the Premier League since 2007 - returned to winning ways with a 3-2 victory at Aston Villa last weekend.

Norwich, who are 16th heading into Saturday's match, stand in Watford's way of winning two games on the bounce for the first time in the league this season.

But Flores is braced for a stern test against the Canaries, who thumped Watford 3-0 in their home and away fixtures in the Championship last term.

"We respect Norwich," Flores added. "We analyse their team and it is very similar to our team. It is compact, they fight a lot and they are very physical.

"Norwich is a very good opponent so our target is just to focus on this match. We can underestimate this kind of teams. This is a very tough team and we have to fight a lot.

"The big teams are ready to win every weekend - for other teams it is more difficult - but we have the possibility for the fourth time to win this season in two consecutive matches and this is very important for us."

Flores is hopeful goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes will be fit to face Norwich on Saturday. Gomes was taken off on a stretcher and a neck brace in his side's win at Villa before being given the all-clear following a hospital scan.

Norwich manager Alex Neil knows his side must get something out of games against teams like Watford if they are to stand any chance of remaining in the top flight.

The Canaries head to Vicarage Road in a positive mindset following the 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal last Sunday, which kept them three points clear of the dropzone.

However, after taking on Watford, Neil's men will face Everton at home and Manchester United away before tackling Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Boxing Day.

The Hornets were promoted as runners-up to Bournemouth, while Norwich won the Sky Bet Championship play-off final at Wembley.

Neil understands all too well the need to take a result from the game against Flores' well-organised team, who have adapted well on their return to the top flight and have won three of their last five.

"We are looking to try to win the game, as we are every week, but I think against the likes of Watford the possibility of winning the game is much higher," Neil said on Norwich City TV.

"We want to approach the game in that fashion and hopefully we can come away with the points.

"The performances haven't been reflected in the points that we have got, but ultimately it is about us making sure that we get those points, and Saturday is a great opportunity for us to do that.

"We are coming into a run of fixtures, so we need to make sure that we are highly competitive."

Source: PAR