Watford will take the Vicarage Road turf this evening knowing the next two matches could prove key in shaping the remainder of the season.

The Hornets host Everton before the visit of West Brom in seven days’ time in two games Javi Gracia was quick to highlight the importance of.

Trips to Anfield and Emirates Stadium follow the back-to-back home games and a failure to pick up points ahead of those games could prove costly.

Everton arrive in WD18 with a less than pretty Premier League away record – they have picked up the fourth fewest points on the road in the league this season – and Watford will be hopeful of taking three points.

With Seamus Coleman likely to join Eliaquim Mangala in missing the game, Everton have injury concerns at the back to worry about.

Meanwhile, the load on Watford’s medical team has lessened somewhat, with Heurelho Gomes, Will Hughes, Miguel Britos and Kiko Femenia all in the running to return.

Stefano Okaka should also be back in the squad after Gracia revealed the forward was available for selection after being left out of his match day 18 in recent weeks.

Watford will be eager to erase the painful memories of their last meeting with Everton, which saw the Hornets blow a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at Goodison Park earlier this season.

That game was played out against the backdrop of an approach from the Toffees to take then Watford boss Marco Silva away from Vicarage Road.

Watford claimed Silva’s flirtations with Everton was the main reason behind a slump in form which saw the club’s fine start to the season turn sour.

The situation adds a further off-field narrative to a clash which would see Watford move to within a point of Everton with a win.

They start the game with a four-point cushion on the bottom three and remain firmly in the relegation shake up.

Goals have been hard to come by under Gracia and the four scored in one sitting against Chelsea are the only strikes of the Spaniard’s tenure.

Everton come into the game on the back of a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace and know that a win, which would take to 37 points, would go a long way to keeping them up.