Tom Cleverley wary of Bristol City threat after Ashton Gate visit ahead of Watford showdown

Watford boss Tom Cleverley has admitted his side will have to be "very efficient" in possession to break down Bristol City when the Hornets host the Reds at Vicarage Road on Tuesday.

Cleverley's side currently sit seventh in the Championship table, four points clear of Liam Manning's Robins who are 10th following their 1-0 defeat at the hands of Burnley at Ashton Gate on Saturday.

Although City weren't able to produce that moment of quality to unlock the Burnley backline, Cleverley was impressed by the Reds' performance having made the trip to see them in action on Saturday lunchtime after Watford's 2-2 draw with Plymouth Argyle on Friday.

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“I’d say City are one of the exceptions in what is a pretty home-heavy league this year," Cleverley told the Watford Observer. “I have a lot of respect for them, and they have dabbled between two systems this season.

"I went to watch them against Burnley at the weekend and you can see they have a clear way of playing. They will cause teams a lot of problems and they are very high on the out-of-possession stats. We’ll have to be very efficient on the ball to break them down.”

Manning's side will have to deal with one or two injury issues against the Hornets on Tuesday, with the City boss confirming Mark Sykes is still a couple of weeks away from returning to action, while both Kal Naismith and Ross McCrorie are continuing to work on their recovery ahead of a potential comeback.

Similarly, the Hornets will be without striker Daniel Jebbison for the visit of the Robins, but they will be boosted by the returns of Festy Ebosele, Pierre Dwomoh and Jeremey Ngakia, although Cleverley admitted the latter won't be ready to feature from the start.

"He’s [Ngakia] a high-class player that can bring something different to the squad,” explained the Watford boss. "We all know he’s had his injury problems and he won’t be ready to start tomorrow, but him being in and around the squad on a matchday will be a good boost for him as well as for us."

Watford are yet to lose a game at home this season, beating both Middlesbrough and Sunderland at Vicarage Road already this term and while Bristol City have one of the Championship's best away records, Cleverley's focus remains on extending that unbeaten run.

“It’s something we’re proud of and something we can build strong foundations from," he said. "What we have to do is work as hard as we can to preserve this record.

“We know we have to start keeping more clean sheets because I’ve always said that your defensive record and home form are what gives you success in this division. We’ve got one and need to preserve it, we need to work on the other.

“I feel like everyone is very positive about the first third of the season we’ve had, but I feel there is a lot of improvement in us. I can’t wait to bring that out.”

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