Birmingham away, Leeds at home, West Brom away – three fixtures where Watford were not favourites to win.

There are no free hits at this stage of the season, but anything the Hornets got out of Tom Cleverley’s first three games were going to more than most pundits – and many fans – would have anticipated.

So, a five-point return was probably quite some way above expectations, even if they could actually have captured all nine.

Next up, though, a home game against Preston where Watford are the bookies’ favourites to win, despite North End being nine points and six places above them.

“What I can say is I honestly believe we go into every game believing we can win,” said Cleverley.

“We always have a game plan to win and a belief to win. I think that’s important.

“The challenge on Saturday is dealing with slight favouritism or a game where you have to grab hold of it.

“That’s all about being consistent. We have a game plan we’re really pleased with, we have a group of players we’re really pleased with and now it’s about consistency.

“The Championship is the one league in the world where consistency is more important than anything else.

“There is no point being 9/10 against Leeds and 8/10 against West Brom if you’re going to drop to a 4/10.

“I’d rather have 46 lots of 7/10s in this league.”

Positive though the Easter performances were, Watford still conceded four goals in two games and Cleverley has used the time since to look back at those matches with his staff.

“I like to see patterns, so I think every time you concede a shot on goal, you can analyse a lot of things that have led to that,” he said.

“I don’t like over analysing it just because one has ended up in the back of the net, or under analysing it because Dan has made a save.

“It’s a bit like putting a fielder where the batsman has just hit it – I’m not that kind of guy.

“I like to see process and patterns, but four goals in two games does mean you do a little inquest.

“However, I think our defenders were fantastic in both games, our goalkeeper was brilliant in both games, and certainly at Birmingham.

“You concede goals as a team. The best pressing teams normally concede the least chances, and that starts from the front.

“No finger pointing, but it’s something we have to address.

“Furlong and Summerville’s strikes were both very good strikes, and hopefully we’re not conceding a goal like that every game because there’s not much you can do about them.

“But in the build up to the Furlong goal on Monday there are certainly things we can improve.

“We want to concede the least number of shots at our goal as possible, and that’s more the key: if one flies in the top corner, that happens.

“I think we’ve looked a lot more solid since the Birmingham game, because we were too open in that game.

“We’re getting more and more solid, and I hope we get to a stage where we’re conceding single-figure attempts on our goal.”