Marco Silva insists his job is safe after Watford lose meekly at Leicester

Marco Silva dismissed any fears over his job after watching his injury-hit Watford lose at Leicester. Jamie Vardy’s penalty and Riyad Mahrez’s late strike left Watford with one win from 11 games and five points above the relegation zone.

“My position? I don’t lose my focus from the situation,” Silva said. “My job is to work hard, together with my players, to improve. The board know my opinion about everything. It’s not the best moment but the Premier League is 38 games, not only the last 10.”

Watford’s fragile defending underlined a lack of confidence and they needed Orestis Karnezis to keep them level early on, the stand-in goalkeeper denying Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi before Abdoulaye Doucouré forced Kasper Schmeichel into a save.

Leicester’s early promise waned as a scrappy game struggled to ignite but Troy Deeney, the subject of several Leicester bids in 2016, thought he had opened the scoring after 33 minutes, finishing low only to be ruled marginally offside. It was Leicester who broke the deadlock six minutes later thanks mainly to their hapless former defender.

Molla Wagué, who joined Leicester on loan last January, was left trailing behind Vardy as the striker latched on to Matty James’s through-ball and could only clatter the forward in the box. It was a clear penalty and Vardy dispatched his 11th goal of the season into the bottom corner.

“We have to keep this good concentration on the pitch,” Claude Puel said. “We cannot look forward, it’s a good time to keep a good focus.”

With little inspiration and Richarlison’s early-season influence fading Watford never recovered. They have now failed to keep a clean sheet in 12 top-flight games.

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The second half began with Karnezis gathering Shinji Okazaki’s low effort before Marvin Zeegelaar denied Vardy a second when he intercepted Okazaki’s cross. A 66th-minute snapshot from Andre Gray’s snapshot being after 66 minutes, easily held by Schmeichel, was a rare sign of life from the visitors.

Leicester were then furious minutes later when Mahrez went down in the area under Doucouré’s challenge in the area but Lee Probert ignored the penalty appeals. The hosts showed more threat and energy but they relied on Harry Maguire’s excellent block with 17 minutes left to stay ahead when Gray raced through but took too long. Mahrez made the game safe in stoppage time with an excellent run and low effort after bamboozling Christian Kabasele.

Silva was left ruing injuries. “If the best teams in the Premier League don’t have six players in the starting XI think how the team is different,” he said. “It’s important for people to pay attention to this.”