Gracia: Missed penalty ruined chances of a draw

Speaking to 'SkySports' after Watford's 3-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal, Javi Gracia admitted that his squad still have a lot of work to do this season. Gracia thought that Watford had wasted their chance to attack Arsenal's two-goal lead.

The Watford manager said that had Troy Deeney not missed a second-half penalty, the 'Hornets' would've been in a more favourable position to aim for a draw. If the scoreboard had read 2-1, Gracia is adamant that Watford could have piled more pressure onto the 'Gunners', who are facing calls for Wenger to step down as manager.

The penalty was however saved by Petr Cech to maintain the two-goal lead and prompted a third goal scored by Mkhitaryan in the 77th minute to further widen the gap.

Gracia added that ''we were preparing a change with Will Hughes coming on and to score to be 2-1 would have improved our options to draw. In the end it was impossible. We conceded an early goal but after that we had difficult moments. We tried to score, but both teams created many chances. At the beginning of the second-half we played better. We controlled the game in the first few minutes but the second goal was very, very hard for us. Then we had the chance to score the penalty - but we missed." 

Watford were hoping to be able to contain the midfield duo of Ozil and Mkhitaryan because ''between the lines they are very dangerous.'' The 'Hornets' coach said that they ''also tried to create chances from set pieces and the counter-attack but if you don't score it's very difficult.''

The next objective for the club, currently sitting in 10th position, is clear, ''we are only focused on the next game against Liverpool to try and get points.''