– Only Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez’s goals have won their side more points this season (18 points) than Watford’s Odion Ighalo (15) and Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic (12).
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The club’s top goalscorer came off in the Hornets’ 2-1 win against Arsenal in the FA Cup last weekend after suffering a knock and has been struggling with a muscular injury in training.
Watford can reach the magical 40-point mark many see as the benchmark for Premier League survival on Saturday when they face Stoke at Vicarage Road but the Hornets boss is not seeing it as a milestone where they can relax.
Eric Pieters’ calf injury will be assessed but Phil Bardsley should be able to return from a similar problem.
“The fans are enjoying the feeling of this season in the Premier League and the FA Cup”. But to look at Europe now is just one possibility but this is not the kind of mentality I need to try to send to the players.
“To do that they will have to score their first goal at Vicarage Road in 12 years”.
“We need a better performance than we produced in the home game that is for sure”.
“We’ve got an opportunity to finish really strongly if we set about things the right way”.
He added: “They are a really strong team”.
Flores said: “We have to check”.
Stoke City manager Mark Hughes: “We like to set targets and raise expectations, and we’re always looking to challenge ourselves”.
“We go to play, we go got to fight, we go to just make something different, and we try to provocate energy within the stadium”.
“Stoke are a good example of how it is possible to establish yourselves in the Premier League, how it is possible to grow and to think well”, he told the Watford’s official website.
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The Potters captain made his comeback against Southampton last weekend after missing eight games with the problem.
