Compulsory yoga sessions, fines of up to £100 a minute for being late to training and three meetings a week, every week, to analyse the next opponents.

The exact time players arrive at Watford’s training ground, just off the M25, is logged on an Ipad at the gatehouse, just in case there is any dispute if they are fined. Head coach Javi Gracia does not get involved – even though he is, punctually, at his desk at 7am every day as he prepares his squad.

Unusually in the Premier League the Watford players work the full four days before every game and while Gracia gives them time off – those not involved in international duty have just enjoyed a long weekend – there are double sessions also. There was one on Tuesday this week.

And there is lots of yoga. It, like punctuality, politeness – he shakes everyone’s hand every morning - and nutrition, is regarded as key for Gracia who has interestingly put his stamp on Watford this season partly through a new, hefty fines system.

Having arrived to successfully fire-fight towards Premier League survival last January the 48-year-old Spaniard has become the first Watford head coach to end a season, take pre-season and be in charge of the new campaign since 2014. That continuity has helped.

Gracia was named manager of the month for August credit: Getty Images

“He’s tough,” says defender Craig Cathcart. “This season we’ve got a whole new fine list. It’s pretty lumpy if you are late. But if you are going to risk being late then you deserve to be fined. It’s £50 a minute and then if you don’t pay it, it doubles.

“It’s a big part of it, discipline, and even the lads themselves are taking charge of it. We’ve got an experienced dressing room so if anyone steps out of line they pay for it.”

What else can a player be fined for?

“Late for the physio, if you don’t do yoga you get fined – which some of the lads aren’t happy about – but these are things to help us,” the 29-year-old explains.

A perfect four wins from four, five if a Carabao Cup victory is also included, and Watford are only behind Liverpool and Chelsea on goal difference at the top of the table with a home tea-time encounter on Saturday against Manchester United to come. If they win it will be a club record start to a season.

Beyond the victories over Brighton, Burnley, Crystal Palace and, most impressively, Tottenham Hotspur in the league are a formidable array of statistics. Not least among them is Watford’s XG (expected goals) – a measure used by the Opta – which shows that they have allowed their opponents the lowest-quality chances this season of any Premier League side.

Gracia has drawn praise for his man management skills credit: Reuters

Cathcart has been part of the same four-man defence – along with Christian Kabasele, Jose Holebas and Daryl Janmaat – in all four league games and it was the line-up which ended last season. In front of them Abdoulaye Doucoure and Etienne Capoue add further protection.

It is a well-drilled 4-4-2 (or 4-2-2-2) formation although at Watford they even liken it to the days of Graham Taylor in the 1980s and his 4-2-4 approach, with Will Hughes and Roberto Pereyra pushing forward to support Andre Gray and Troy Deeney.

Gracia has also named the same starting XI in every league game and, pretty much, made the same substitutions to add further continuity and build on a platform of being unbeaten in pre-season which Cathcart says, after a summer of ferocious hard work, has been difference.

“We worked a lot in pre-season on defensive shape and pressing from the front and it’s shown,” he says. “We are playing with two strikers and we didn’t do that much last season so that gives us a chance to press a little bit higher. Everyone understands what position to be in and the timing of the press as well is pretty key.”

Players who appeared to be on their way out, or ostracised, such as Holebas and Capoue and – above all – the captain Deeney, who importantly has lost a stone in weight, have been rehabilitated and Cathcart believes this owes much to the man-management of Gracia.

“He’s really humble,” he says. “Even if you are not in the team no-one is complaining because you know the manager is doing his best and he’s a nice guy. You can talk to him and there’s no problem to knock on his door and ask ‘what can I do to get in the team?’ Everyone respects him and I think that comes from how he respects every player. That’s the way you want a manager to be.”

Watford sit third in the Premier League table behind Liverpool and Chelsea credit: Getty Images

Watford has one of the most diverse squads in terms of nationalities and Gracia does not insist everyone speaks English in the dressing room. However he buys into the Watford policy of the squad having regular team meals, away from the club and without him, and although the players set what fines are imposed for, Gracia decides on the tariff. “The squad seems to be a lot tighter-knit this season,” Cathcart says.

There is no rocket science to Gracia’s style. Tactically he has taken the same approach as when he was in charge of Malaga – a hard-working 4-4-2, not worried about dominating possession – and there are echoes, in fact, of the way Leicester City were under Claudio Ranieri when they won the league.

Gracia has made that comparison himself although a more realistic target is to be the best of the rest as Burnley were last season when they finished seventh.

Despite there having been a high turnover of coaches – and Gracia is himself is already in the final year of his 18-month deal although a new contract is expected – tellingly Watford have kept their squad and its big players together.

Ten of the starters so far this season were already at the club with goalkeeper Ben Foster the only summer signing, from six arrivals, to break into the team.

Richarlison was sold, but that was always expected. Over the past two years the squad has been strengthened and not least in midfield where they have Nathaniel Chalobah, Tom Cleverley and Gerard Deulofeu to come in.

There are a lot of tactical meetings but, crucially, they are short and snappy. An overhaul of the medical department – 13 players were out when Gracia was appointed, now it is just two – has also helped although that was pre-planned by the ambitious club. Nevertheless they appear to have found the right approach with their head coach.