Watford midfielder Ben Watson has tipped the club to emulate Stoke City, Southampton and Swansea City by thriving in the Premier League.

To the typical top flight supporter that may sound a fanciful claim. You could imagine hearing “little Watford. An established Premier League team? No chance’” down a local in Manchester.

But Watson knows his stuff. He isn’t a wide-eyed callow youngster who will be travelling to the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United for the first time.

Watson is a 30-year-old with five years top flight experience. He has been there, done it and swapped shirts with some of the best.

He is fully aware of what it takes to compete at the highest level and is convinced Watford have the potential to be more than perpetual Premier League relegation battlers.

“The way things are done at Watford are of Premier League standard,” the former Wigan Athletic midfielder told the Watford Observer on Saturday at the Hornets’ pre-season training camp in Germany.

“We have the platform here at Watford to go on and on. The owners wanted their club to be a Premier League club and they’ve managed to do that.

“Now the first season is about staying up, nothing else. If we stay up it is as good as winning the league or being promoted. That is our aim and we want to finish as high as possible.”

He continued: “The longer you are in the Premier League the more it benefits everyone associated with the club.

“We can’t get too ahead of ourselves and start thinking we can win the league in a couple of years. But we can look at how other teams have established themselves.

“Look at Stoke. They have maintained their position, stayed in the league and last season broke into the top ten.

“There are also other examples like Southampton and Swansea, who have maybe done it a bit faster. What you don’t want to be is a side that bounces between the Premier League and the Championship like QPR.

“So the first season is huge. If we survive we can build and improve. It will be a tough season for us but the owners are ambitious and they have already brought players in.

“I don’t think there will be an end to the spending either. I still think there will be a few more to come in which can only benefit the team.”

So far this summer Watford have bought nine players while winger Steven Berghuis is also set to complete a move to Vicarage Road.

The additions will undoubtedly strengthen Watford as a collective but how do the individuals, such as Watson, who fought their way out of the Championship feel about the new arrivals?

“The manager will pick an eleven he thinks will win the game,” he said. “That eleven will probably change throughout the weeks because you will need different players to win different games.

“Of course you want to be involved and playing in the Premier League but if not then you work harder and your time will come.

“I think nearly everyone we have signed is an international which is no easy feat. You are certainly not a bad player if you’ve been capped by your country.

“You look at (Etienne) Capoue. He is a French international. (Valon) Behrami’s played for Switzerland and all the others have played at a very high level.

“More players will come in and that is great for the team. You have to be on your toes every day if you want to be in the side.”

And it isn’t only the playing staff that has been overhauled. The coaching staff has changed too. Slavisa Jokanovic, the man who brought Watson to Vicarage Road last January, has been replaced by Quique Sanchez Flores.

Assistant coaches Ruben Martinez and Javier Pereira have also departed with Flores bringing in Alberto Giraldez and Antonio Diaz Carlavilla as his deputies alongside Dean Austin.

“I was sad to see Slav go,” Watson said. “He was the manager who bought me and I had a great five months with him.

“But that’s football. Players and managers leave and new ones come in. And I am enjoying the new regime.

“He (Flores) has tried to drum it into us what he wants tactically both on and off the ball. We are doing that every day and in every session.

"We are replicating what we will do in matches which will only benefit us because we’re going into a very tough league where teams are tactically and physically very strong.

“We need to be on top of our game to get points. So what we are doing in pre-season will put us in good stead in the fight to stay up.”