Watford defender Christian Kabasele has hailed the leadership of captain Troy Deeney.

When Deeney has been fit, Watford have invariably profited, with their upsurge in form this term coinciding with his return from a knee injury which kept the club captain out for 10 league games.

"Troy is our leader, and he's a great team-mate," says Kabasele to Sky Sports. "He's always very open and he tries to help everyone. Whenever there's a bad moment on the pitch, he's there to wake up everybody and to keep our focus until the end. We hope to keep him fit as much as possible.

"But when you see the performance of every player that day against Liverpool, nobody was below an eight out of 10 if you were to rate the team.

"This showed what we are capable of and is the type of performance we want to build on. We must take with us the positives of that game but also the negatives of the defeat to Palace. We need the right balance if we are to stay in the league next season."