Watford's Troy Deeney: 'We have to cope with expectations'

Watford captain Troy Deeney has admitted that his side will have to raise their expectations as they prepare to face teams below them in the Premier League.

The Hornets face Aston Villa, Norwich City and Sunderland over the course of the next three weeks, and Deeney has revealed that his side are eyeing maximum points from the contests as they look to bounce back from their narrow defeat to Manchester United.

Deeney told the club's official website: "Expectation comes from being good, not from being bad, so we'll take that.

"It's the nature of the beast in terms of what we do. You could say playing against Manchester United we were expected to lose, but then once we scored I think everyone felt like we could nick it. I suppose that shows how well we've been doing as a team.

"The massive thing for us is that we've been in contention for every game, and we've given ourselves a fighting chance in every single game we've played this season. We're definitely going to need all those qualities to come out in these next three games and hope that our bit of quality in terms of finishing and defending as a team will win the games."

Watford are 13th in the Premier League ahead of their away clash against Villa tomorrow.