Before the season kicked off, Watford’s primary goal for the season was the same as it has been since their promotion to the top tier in 2015. To avoid the drop, at all costs.

But four games into the new season and the board are worried that Javi Garcia’s will become a target of their Premier League rivals after their impressive start. The Hornets have a 100% record and sit pretty with Chelsea and Liverpool at the top of the Premier League. It’s the first time in the club’s history that they’ve won their opening four games, but they passed their toughest test on Sunday with a 2-1 win against Spurs.

It’s too early in the season to make any predictions, but Watford already have a third of the points that were needed to secure survival last season. The magic number to avoid the drop was just 34 points, but the teams battling to stay up will be aiming for 40 this time. With Watford’s current form they could achieve that by Christmas and be pushing for Europe. It sounds crazy, but all you have to do is look at what Burnley did last season. It could go completely the other way though. If the wheels come off and form dips they can find themselves in a tough spot, but Watford are one of those opponents that are always tough to play.

They might not have the world-class talent of the Big six, but the likes of Troy Deeney will make your afternoon as difficult as possible, and you could see the movement on both of their goals against Spurs.

Deeney has the perfect mentality for a captain and forward, and he’s the player you need in the team when the game’s not going according to plan. It’s easy to show the value of a player when a team is winning, but when it goes wrong you see it stand out even more, when the captain is the first to lead the attack and defence by demanding more from his team and showing that he is up for it.

Javi Garica has done a great job of using that to the advantage and build a team with the right qualities. He’s made sure Watford have the experience in defence and in goal, a physical midfield that is difficult to overrun, and the forwards that have the power and speed to give any team a hard time.

Watford have slowly built their team rather than trying to overhaul their squad with new players. Eight of the starters that faced Spurs were at the club in 2016, while captain Troy Deeney has been there since 2010. Watford even reached the semi-final of the FA Cup two years ago and now in their fourth consecutive PL season look like they’re serious about staying in the top flight.

It’s easy to draw parallels with Watford and the Leicester side that won the Premier League in their ‘miracle season.’ The season before they became Champions, Leicester placed 14th in Premier League, with 41 points and a record of 11 wins and 8 draws. Last season, Watford placed 14th with 41 points and the exact same record. But that’s almost certainly as far as the comparison can go. But it will be interesting to see how long their run will go on for, and where the Hornets will finish come May.

Their biggest enemy is the amount of games in the calendar, because they have been playing with the same players every game and that will give them something to think about when one or two pick up injuries or need to be rested. Let’s hope they keep their run going and stay in the mix after December, because that’s where most outsiders start to fall off.

But for now we will be watching them closely because the underdogs always bring the excitement.

#mmlove