Watford have now gone four games without getting on the scoresheet after they were beaten 2-0 by Brighton & Hove at Vicarage Road on Saturday evening.

When Neal Maupay opened the scoring just before half-time, the Hornets equaled the Premier League record for most consecutive home matches without a clean sheet - 17.

Sunderland (2003-2005), Blackpool (2010-2011), West Brom (2010-2011) and Wolves (2011-2012) also 'achieved' that landmark.

Roy Hodgson was brought in last month to help Watford plug their leaky defence and with the experienced English coach in the dugout they managed to keep a clean sheet in his first game but let in goals in their next two matches including today's clash against the Seagulls.

Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has urged Hodgson to find a balance between attack and defence, and labelled Emmanuel Dennis a fantastic player as he namechecked the good strikers in the Watford side.

Speaking on punditry duties for Premier League Productions, Hargreaves said post-match : "The big reason why he's in is to tidy them up defensively, they were conceding far too many goals under Ranieri, they did that in the first two games.

"But then you have to strike that balance between can you get up the pitch, can you score? They play very defensive now which is fine but once you go down a goal then they are in trouble, we saw that at Crystal Palace.

"Get Ismaïla Sarr into the side, he's got Josh King, Emmanuel Dennis, who is a fantastic player, so he's got good attacking players there but he's got to find a balance between defending and attacking."

Dennis is Watford's top scorer in the Premier League with eight goals but has not found the net since he was prevented from linking up with the Nigeria squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel