Watford should embrace challenge of relegation battle, says Nigel Pearson

Nigel Pearson believes his Watford players should "embrace the challenge" of a relegation battle as they target their first win since the restart against Norwich.

Watford have picked up one point from a possible 12 since the season resumed in June and suffered a third consecutive Premier League loss on Saturday at Chelsea.

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Live PL: Watford v Norwich

However, Pearson insisted his team, who sit one point above the relegation zone, will focus on simply delivering a performance at Vicarage Road rather than worry about the importance of the match.

"We recognise how important the game is so it is one that we look forward to, one that we want to get a response from, a reaction from another defeat the other night which was disappointing but there was some good signals from that game," Pearson said.

"Look, all these games now are big and we just have to embrace the challenge.

"The important thing for us is to detach ourselves from all the ifs and buts and make sure our performance is as good as it can be.

"We are playing on familiar territory and so it is just important for us that we get the right performance and build on some positive things from the other night.

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"There is a desire to improve on our performances and results for sure.

"The important thing is that we get the balance right between being calm about the situation but also recognise the necessity to perform and pick points up."

Pearson revealed he has no fresh injury concerns - minus existing absentees Gerard Deulofeu, Isaac Success and Daryl Janmaat - and was non-committal when asked if Danny Welbeck could be handed a start against Norwich, who sit bottom of the table.

Welbeck did play from the start against Burnley but the Watford head coach insisted the forward's good career record against Norwich - where he has scored three goals in two appearances - will not necessarily sway his thinking.

"We did a recovery session yesterday and we will look at the situation again today and then make decisions from there," Pearson said.

"There's nothing new to bring up. It is more about how I feel that we will be best suited setting up in the game.

"I'll assess the players again today and the decisions will be made based on that and what we think is right for this game."

Watch Watford vs Norwich live on Sky Sports Premier League and Arena from 5:30pm on Tuesday; kick-off 6pm.

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