Watford travel to Ipswich Town to play the Blues in a Championship fixture at Portman Road tonight (kick-off 7.45pm) with their confidence high.

Elvin King

WATFORD travel to Ipswich Town to play the Blues in a Championship fixture at Portman Road tonight (kick-off 7.45pm) with their confidence high.

Malky Mackay's side have gained seven points from their last three away games including a 1-0 victory at promotion-chasing Middlesbrough at the weekend.

And Mackay says that his team are good enough to take on and beat big-spending sides.

“We knew there was going to be games that are tough, like Cardiff and Middlesbrough,” he said.

“They are teams that have spent millions of pounds to be up and around the top of the table at the end of the season.

“So there is absolutely no pressure on the group as far as we are concerned.

“They work hard week-to-week in training and then you try and apply it on Saturday.

“And when it comes together like it did on Saturday, it is a fantastic result.”

Mackay says there will be no pressure on his players tonight, adding: “We have a very young group of players at the moment. You can see that from some of our line-ups so I don't think any pressure is on the group.”

While the Hornets' away form has been spot-on they have struggled at home with just one point from their last three games at Vicarage Road.

Town boss Roy Keane is expecting Watford to be difficult opposition. “They have a good manager and some good young players,” he said.

“To show what a good team they are they are just off the play-offs.

“It will be tough, but we must look to enjoy the challenge. We have nothing to be frightened of.”

Watford captain Jay DeMerit underwent an operation at the weekend having been suffering with an eye problem for over a month.

USA international DeMerit's eye became irritated after a small particle of grit became stuck underneath his contact lens.

The defender's right eye became 'angry and swollen' and bacteria continued to spread with the centre-back's vision becoming blurry.

Mackay said: “We hope that the operation will halve the time that Jay would have been out for.”

And DeMerit said before the operation: “The plan was to cut out the exact same shape of the cornea with a high-tech laser, drop in a new one and stitch my eye.

“With this new procedure, they hope I can be back in a month or two. The traditional way they said I'd be out three or four months.”