Roy Hodgson ‘enormously weary’ of the task facing Watford at Manchester City

Roy Hodgson is “enormously weary” ahead of Watford travelling to Manchester City on Saturday but insists his side have not been left totally shattered by their latest setback last weekend.

The relegation-threatened Hornets conceded in the 95th minute at Vicarage Road to suffer a 2-1 defeat to Brentford, which means they are seven points from safety with six fixtures left to play in the Premier League this season.

A trip to leaders City is probably the last destination Hodgson would have hoped for but he does boast a strong recent record at the Etihad with a victory and draw from his last three visits to the stadium.

Hodgson said: “We are enormously weary of the fixture because we know how easy it is to get heavily beaten up there because of their enormous attacking talent and of course the wealth of talent Pep (Guardiola) has at his disposal.

“I still think it is a good game to play and I am hoping the confidence won’t have been totally shattered by the last-minute goal in the last game where in actual fact the second-half performance was probably as good as we have given for a long period of time.

“I am hoping we will think more about the way we played against Brentford in the second half and not just the fact we have once again had to swallow the bitter pill of another defeat.”

Watford have lost their last 14 fixtures to City but Hodgson played down talk this was a match to write off for the 19th-placed side.

“I don’t think I will see it as a free hit at three o’clock on Saturday, that’s the problem,” the 74-year-old insisted.

“Then I will be so concerned about how they are capable of cutting our defence to ribbons and creating spaces that we could be unable to block, but I think the players have done exceptionally