Watford star Richarlison has explained his Twitter reaction to Marco Silva getting sacked in January and said his former boss was 'least to blame' for the Hornets poor results up until that point.

The 20-year-old initially posted an angry emoji on the social media site shortly after Silva's departure had been announced but it was deleted not long afterwards.

Speaking to the Evening Standard the Brazilian said: "I was asleep in my house and (Watford team-mate) Heurelho Gomes came over, woke me, to tell me the news. I was very sad and I reacted without thinking.

"I owe Marco a lot because he is the one that called me before I came to Watford. I moved here because of him. He helped me every day and was extremely good with me.

"Marco is the person who is the least to blame (for the bad results) but was the one who paid the highest price. The ones on the pitch were the players, not him."

Despite the disappointment Richarlison is now focused on working with his new coach Javi Gracia and like him, believes the performance against Stoke points to the Hornets improving.

Like his boss, he is not daunted by the prospect of Chelsea on Monday evening either.

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He said: "Chelsea are going to come with everything because they need to win the game. But we are ready for them.

"Javi is our new manager and we are working hard for him. He is asking everyone to have a great attitude on the pitch.

"Can we stay up? Of course. Everyone saw against Stoke (0-0) that we are starting to play good. We have no doubt that against Chelsea we can play a good game."