Watford player issues warning to Burnley and Sheffield United despite Middlesbrough setback | OneFootball

Watford shot-stopper Daniel Bachmann has revealed that his side aren’t going to give up on securing a top-two spot until it’s mathematically impossible for them to catch the top two, speaking to the Hornets’ media team.

With league leaders Burnley taking on Ipswich Town in the FA Cup on Saturday and Sheffield United travelling to Wrexham yesterday, the Hornets had a golden opportunity to reduce the gap between them and the mentioned duo.

Having been knocked out in the third round against Reading, Slaven Bilic’s men were in league action at the weekend as they travelled to Middlesbrough who were desperate to respond following their loss against Sunderland.

Think you’re a hardcore Watford fan? Try score 20/20 on this quiz all about the club

1 of 30

WHAT YEAR WERE THE CLUB FOUNDED?

1881 1885

And unfortunately for Saturday’s visitors, Michael Carrick’s side returned to winning ways with goals from Chuba Akpom and Marcus Forss in the opening 45 consigning Bilic’s side to a frustrating defeat.

Not only do the Hertfordshire outfit remain 13 points adrift of the top two – but both the Clarets and the Blades have a game in hand over them now and that will make it even more difficult for the Hornets to secure automatic promotion now.

But Bachmann isn’t giving up hope yet despite a recent setback at the Riverside, in a warning to his side’s promotion rivals.

He said: “As I said, next week we’ve got 17 games left and we have to try and win as many as possible and chase the top two.

“We are not going to give up until it’s mathematically impossible, and we need to make sure we finish as high as we can in the league and get back to the Premier League.”

The Verdict:

You can understand why Bachmann isn’t giving up hope because Bilic will want his side to be looking up at the top two rather than over their shoulder – because if they focus on teams behind them – that may not pay dividends for them psychologically.

There’s enough pressure on them already with many people expecting them to seal a Premier League return at the first time of asking – and they will only pile more on if they think about the prospect of falling out of the top six.

They can’t afford to be complacent – but they need to be reasonably confident if they want to give themselves the best chance of retaining their place in the promotion mix – with consistency also likely to be crucial.

Looking at the current state of play though, it would be difficult to see Watford catching Burnley now considering the depth and quality the latter have with Vincent Kompany’s side in an extremely strong position at this point.

In terms of Paul Heckingbottom’s Blades, their season could be derailed by the potential sales of Sander Berge and Iliman Ndiaye, though both could potentially remain at Bramall Lane beyond the end of this month.