Etienne Capoue's form has made Watford less reliant on strikers, says Heurelho Gomes

Etienne Capoue's form this season has eased the burden on Watford striking duo Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo, according to Heurelho Gomes.

Deeney and Ighalo scored 28 of Watford's 40 Premier League goals last season as the newly-promoted side achieved a 13th-placed finish back in the top flight. 

Capoue has taken up a more advanced midfield role this season though and is currently the club's top goalscorer, having netted five times in the current campaign, with the Hornets sat eighth under Walter Mazzarri - who replaced Quique Sanchez Flores at the end of last season. 

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Ahead of the visit of Stoke City this weekend, live on Sky Sports, Watford goalkeeper Gomes has put their improved position down to the shared responsibility, highlighting Capoue's impact. 

"This season he [Capoue] has more freedom to go to the box and he's a type of player that wants to be there," Gomes told Soccer Saturday. 

"He prefers to attack than defend sometimes and that's his game. Last season was just about Troy and Ighalo to score goals and the other teams, they knew that.

"This season we are surprising them because the manager asked us to be a very attacking team. In this case the midfield are so important for us to get close to the box and finish the game.

"Capoue, this season, has scored a lot of similar goals because he was there to do it." 

It was Roberto Pereyra's classy strike that gave Watford a third win in five games against Premier League champions Leicester City last time out though, and Gomes believes Capoue is not the only player reducing the burden on Watford's strikers. 

"It is not an easy ball to stop because it was perfection," said Gomes, describing Pereyra's goal. "He just cut inside and put it in the far post and that is difficult for any goalkeeper to stop. It was a class goal.

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"He is, I believe, the final touch that we missed last season for a long time. His quality is there. He can pass it, he scores beautiful goals like he did.

"He's such an important player for us because sometimes he's a player that will link out midfield to the strikers, and he can finish off the game."  

Liverpool are the only team to have put a dent in Watford's recent progress under Mazzarri, having beaten the Hornets 6-1, and Gomes insists the players won't be letting that happen again. 

"I believe [it was] a lack of effort against Liverpool," said Gomes. "I don't know why but we made it very easy for them. We didn't try to play our game. We blamed ourselves. We said that it cannot be permitted."

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Gomes added: "He's [Mazzarri] a very hard manager to deal with but he also respects us a lot. We need to follow what he wants us to do, that is the most important thing for him.

"If we do that he is going to be so happy, we're going to have happy days with him, but if not, we're going to have tough days." 

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