Troy Deeney has warned his Watford team-mates against another Arsenal drubbing and urged them not to be so ‘gung-ho’ this time around.

Back in October, we beat them 3-0 in the Premier League at Vicarage Road in a performance the Watford striker described as us ‘picking them apart’. This time, he’s hoping his team doesn’t make the same mistakes.

“That’s the only spell this season when we were too gung-ho I suppose,” he said.

“They scored the first goal and, instead of hanging on to what we had for the next 10 minutes and steadying the ship, we went gung-ho and you can’t do that against Arsenal. They just picked us apart and, before you knew it, the game’s 3-0. So we know we have to be cautious, be very smart in our play and, if we do go a goal down, it’s not the end of the world.”

Deeney has scored nine times and got seven assists in all competitions so far this season and from October to December, it seemed as if you couldn’t stop the 27-year-old from finding the net. However, now the goals have begun to dry up and the striker is keen to get back to scoring ways, not just from a personal point of view, but for the whole team.

493071506 troy deeney of watford and francis coquelin gettyimages
WATFORD, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 17: Troy Deeney of Watford and Francis Coquelin of Arsenal battle for the ball during the Barclays Premier League match between Watford and Arsenal at Vicarage Road on October 17, 2015 in Watford, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

“In an ideal world everyone would be scoring but it’s just not the way it’s working at the moment,” the striker continued.

“But if you stopped the season right now and Watford were on 37 points, in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, Ighalo’s scored 14 league goals in his first season in the Premier League, does that sound like a bad season to anybody? Although people are trying to highlight certain things, we just have to remember we’re in our first year in the Premier League, having our first proper run in the FA Cup for a long time and we’re doing really well. It’s just because we did so well at the start of the season, now it looks like we’re in a bit of a rut.

“A lot of work early doors in the season was based on being solid as a team. We were getting a bit of stick when we weren’t scoring goals and that seems to have come full circle because that’s what people are talking about again now. But the main thing is we’ve been competitive in every match. I don’t think we’ve been spanked in any game. That’s probably the best thing for us.”

Watford are currently in 13th place in the Premier League with 37 points and look as if they’ll survive this season. In addition, reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals is bound to be a huge boost for the London team. Although hopefully they don’t progress any further…