Watford boss Nigel Pearson says the players need to lighten the goalscoring burden on Troy Deeney.

Since Pearson took over at Watford two months ago, only Manchester City's Sergio Aguero and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah have netted more times (seven) in the top flight than Deeney's five goals.

Ahead of his side's pivotal clash against Brighton, Pearson said: "Speaking to Everton staff after the game last weekend, and it was like that after we faced Spurs too, they were very complimentary about how irritating Troy is to play against.

"What you have to remember with someone like Troy is that he is a very difficult customer. He is somebody who does score goals and his record is very good but on top of that he is game-effective too, when I think about how he occupies more than one player at a time.

"But the bottom line is that we need to find goals throughout the squad. You have to accept that players will get themselves into scoring positions, and generally speaking, Troy does do that.

"But we need to find ways of other people contributing too, and that is an ongoing process which we are trying to find the answers to."