As the second-youngest of eight children, fighting for his voice to be heard and his belly filled around a crowded but happy dinner table as he grew up, Abdoulaye Doucoure knows all about picking the right moment.

For him, and for Watford, he believes that moment is now as they head towards Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley, for what he describes as the biggest game of his life.

And Doucoure is a believer. It is a word he uses. “We are believers and now is the time to believe,” he says, as he cites Watford’s remarkable comeback in the semi-final against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

At 2-0 down, with only 11 minutes to go, it appeared to be all over before Watford forced extra time with a wonder goal by substitute Gerard Deulofeu and a nerveless, 94th-minute penalty by Troy Deeney. Deulofeu scored again in extra time to win it.

“A lot of my friends admitted to me that, ‘yeah, we switched off the TV when you were two down’,” Doucoure says. “They didn’t think we were coming back but I believed. And now we face Manchester City who have some of the best players in the world, who are one of the best teams in the world and who want to make history. But we want to make our history.”