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Marco Silva is under pressure to halt Watford’s slump after testing the patience of the top brass with nine losses in his last 13 games.

Executive chairman Scott Duxbury stormed out at the end of Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat by Swansea, fed up after a second collapse in the last five minutes against the Premier League’s bottom club in three weeks.

Silva, whose contract has 18 months still to run after joining in the summer from relegated Hull, is not in imminent danger of the sack.

But after Duxbury and owner Gino Pozzo fought tooth and nail to keep him out of Everton’s clutches in the autumn, rejecting two approaches from the Merseysiders for their 40-year-old head coach, the Hornets expected better than 10 points from a possible 39.

And the prospects of an instant improvement are grim — next up is Tuesday's daunting trip to runaway leaders Manchester City, who won 6-0 at Vicarage Road in September.

Watford will back Silva in the January transfer window and are front-runners to land Leicester striker Islam Slimani on loan until the end of the season, despite competition from fellow strugglers Newcastle.

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But there is increasing concern at the team’s readily collapsible nature, which has become a running sore since Everton’s unwelcome interest in Silva.

The Hornets threw away a two-goal lead at Goodison Park in November to lose 3-2, lost 2-1 at then last-placed Crystal Palace on December 12 after being 1-0 up with two minutes to go and were booed off on Saturday after the rock-bottom Swans’ burglary of three points.

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Midfielder Ben Watson admitted: “I don’t know how we lost it. We were in control, didn’t kill the game off and got punished.

“It’s not the first time this season we have paid the price. We are gutted because we know if we had won, we would be eighth in the table. We have got to learn from this – and learn quickly.”