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| Watford have won three Premier League games for the first time in their history |
WATFORD could never be accused of suffering delusions of grandeur.
The Hornets have just reeled off three straight wins for the first time in their Premier League history, are riding high in the table after a fourth away success this season, and boast a front pair Louis van Gaal would kill for, never mind Sam Allardyce.
But you won't hear any talk of Europe or emulating the feats of Graham Taylor's famous Eighties side coming out of Vicarage Road.
This is a team with their feet entrenched in reality. Their mantra is enjoy the moment and the future will take care of itself.
"I am proud of the records we have set but we won't dwell on them," said manager Quique Flores, who hugged each one of his players at the final whistle after Odion Ighalo's 10th league goal of the season early on had clinched victory.
"It was a good moment and I wanted to enjoy it with my team on the pitch, but now we move on."
Moving on for Watford translates into steps towards survival rather than grand ambition.
"We're essentially in our own mini-league and right now, we're effectively top of that," said captain Troy Deeney, who had little chance to add to his run of five goals in six games.
"It's hard to keep your feet on the ground because when you're winning, you think you can go on and win the next one.
"The Premier League is not that easy and you can lose two or three on the bounce which can make it a very long month.
"But now we've got 25 points in the bag and can take on Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs and have great fun."
Sunderland have an equally daunting festive fixture list but there won't be much fun inside their dressing room after a result no one tried to pretend wasn't a huge blow to their survival prospects.
"It's a massive setback," admitted Jack Rodwell, who came off the bench in the 19th minute when Allardyce abandoned the wing-back system which allowed Watford to run amok early on.
"A win would have kicked us up the league and we really believed we could get it. But the start let us down and we could have conceded more.
"When you look at our games coming up, we should have got a result here. We can't afford to slip back any further than where we are."
Sunderland fans thought Allardyce had cracked it after back-to-back wins and an impressive display in defeat at Arsenal, but a nasty dose of reality has now hit home.
"The expectation was high," said Allardyce, whose side only threatened to rescue a point when Jermain Defoe came off the bench for the final 18 minutes.
"What's happened here has put us right back in it and we're playing catch up again.
"The difference is mega - mega. We've created our own problems and put ourselves back in the mire."
SUNDERLAND (3-5-2): Pantilimon 6; Jones 5, Coates 5, O'Shea 6; Yedlin 4 (Rodwell 19, 6), M'Vila 6, Toivonen 5, Borini 4 (Johnson 57, 4), Van Aanholt 6; Watmore 6, Fletcher 6 (Defoe 72, 7). Booked: Rodwell. NEXT UP: Chelsea (a) Sat, PL.
WATFORD (4-2-3-1): Gomes 7; Nyom 8, Cathcart 6, Britos 6, Ake 6; Capoue 6, Watson 6; Abdi 7 (Guedioura 69, 5), Deeney 6, Jurado 6 (Anya 76); Ighalo 7. Goal: Ighalo 4. NEXT UP: Liverpool (h) Sun, PL.
Referee: Graham Scott.
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