Elliot Is Confident But Cautious

By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor

Rob Elliot says that Newcastle will be confident but cautious when they travel to Watford in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

The Magpies have gained four points from their last two games following a 3-3 draw against Manchester United and a 2-1 victory over West Ham.

By contrast, the Hornets have only won one of their last six matches in all competitions - but that came against Steve McClaren's side in the Emirates FA Cup third round two weeks ago.

Quique Sanchez Flores' team also won 2-1 at St. James' Park back in September and, despite their recent slump, sit 12th in the table having been promoted from the Championship last season.

"They've been excellent," goalkeeper Elliot told nufcTV this week. "They're really organised and they've got two strong, quick, exciting strikers who are very hard to deal with - and you have to deal with them, because that's where their goals come from.

"We played them in the cup and we got a little bit of a taster of what it's going to be like. We go there with confidence, but also with caution because you have to at this level.

"You can't take things for granted, you can't think you're just going to turn up. We've got to go and put a proper away performance in. We've got to make sure we do all the horrible things; the tackles, the nitty gritty, the running back, the shape.

"I think if we can do that then our qualities will come through. The quality we've got in the front six is enough to beat any team but we need to make sure we do the other stuff first, all the stuff that you get paid the money for - the running, the working, the heading, the kicking, set plays. If we can do that, I don't think there's anyone who can live with us."

Watford's 1-0 defeat to Swansea was a fourth successive league defeat, but Elliot warned: "They started on such a high and they haven't won for a few, but it's the Premier League; we know from our own experience how quickly it can change.

"If we go there thinking it's going to be an easy game, we're going to get found out so we need to make sure we're switched on.

"On the flip side, if we can perform for any length of time how we did in the first 30 minutes against West Ham then that can only be a good thing for us and hopefully that'll lead to us getting a result.

"I think we've developed as a team and as a squad, we're sort of getting to know each other, but results are important now.

"That's the biggest thing for me now - we start turning performances into results and be more ruthless."

Missed chances proved costly at Vicarage Road a fortnight ago as Troy Deeney scored the only goal of the game to end United's cup hopes for yet another season.

And Elliot said: "We feel a bit hard done by, if we're honest. We had chances to win the game but we should definitely at least have been coming back to St. James' with a draw.

"So we need to go and make sure we at least make up for that a little bit with the fans.

"Hopefully we can give the travelling fans something to celebrate going back home this time."

You can watch the full nufcTV interview with Rob Elliot here