Roy Hodgson has conceded all Watford can do is 'hope' for a result when they take on Liverpool in the Premier League this weekend.
Jurgen Klopp's side are aiming for a tenth straight top-flight triumph when hosting the Hornets on Saturday afternoon in the early kick-off. With Manchester City not in action until 3pm, the Reds could temporarily move top of the table for the first time since September.
Watford suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool when the sides met back in October, and Hodgson is all too aware his players are likely to be pushed to their limits at Anfield.
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"You need to be realistic about it. We've got to understand that there are certain games where the teams that we are going to be playing are not in our region because they're not in the bottom three," admitted the 74-year-old.
"We've got Burnley [still to play] I think, but all the others are out of the bottom three at least. But there are teams where you would like to think that with the players we have, the quality we have, that we can give those teams a good game and get a result if things go well for us. And there'll be other games where you're just hoping that your team will pull off some sort of exceptional performance and surprise the football world by getting the result that no one expects."
Watford's previous league victory at Anfield arrived way back in 1999 and it is likely to take a heroic performance to get the better of this in-form Liverpool team. The January arrival of Luis Diaz has seen the quadruple-chasers reach new heights and the former Reds boss has accepted the Hornets' 'underdogs' status is fully justified, given the level Klopp's men are currently operating at.
"The tables don't lie," Hodgson said. "The teams at the bottom are there because up to now they've not been able to do well enough to get to the top and the ones at the top are obviously good because that's where they are. So every time you play a team like Liverpool, away from home, you know that the odds are stacked against us and that doesn't matter whether you're just below them in the table or whether you're a long way below them in the table.
"There's no secret to how good they are or why they're good. The quality of their players, the quality of their work on the field - we know all of those things. All we can do is hope that we're able to produce on the day the sort of performance that will get us a result. Of course we go there very clearly as underdogs."
