Christian Kabasele is hopeful Javi Gracia will remain at the club into next season and believes Watford can benefit from continuity.

The Spaniard’s spell has been an up and down one so far and his Hornets side is without a win in six games after claiming 10 points from his first five league outings at the helm.

Watford’s record of regularly changing head coach means Gracia’s position will be in doubt should the season peter out, but Kabasele believes the head coach deserves to stay on in the summer.

Kabasele said: “For sure it is easier when you can work many years with the same manager and the same players.

“But in some moments the board is making some decisions. We have to respect what the board has said and our job is to be good on the pitch.”

Kabasele returned to the Watford side for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury at Stoke City at the end of January in the goalless draw against Crystal Palace yesterday.

He looked assured at the centre of Watford’s defence and played an important role in keeping Watford’s first clean sheet since early March.

The defender was pleased with the shutout and says Gracia’s approach is always focused on being defensively sound, even if recent results have suggested otherwise.

“We have been working a long time with him and we try to not concede and that is what we did the last two games until 85 minutes,” he said.

“Today we did it all the game, so when you don’t concede a goal and it is minimum one point so this is the first part of our job.”