GRAHAM Taylor has rubbished suggestions that the quest for the Premiership has already become a two horse race.
Watford's impressive start - bettered only by high-flyin g Fulham - has justified the pre-season predictions that the relegated Hornets will bounce straight back.
Indeed, had they not drawn a blank at home to Gillingham on Tuesday night, they would have overtaken the Cottagers and gone top of the table themselves - albeit for just 24 hours before Fulham nitched their 11th successive league win!
Nevertheless, the draw still put them six points clear of the field, leading many pundits to suggest the two automatic promotion places have already been taken.
But Taylor - delighted though he is with results and performances so far - believes it is far too early to make such assumptions adding: "I don't think it's fair to say that it's a two-team battle for promotion.
"There's so much that can still happen. After all we don't play Fulham until Boxing Day.
Taylor, a respected figure again after his painful period as England manager, has urged Hornets' players and fans not to get carried away and sees tomorrow night's clash with Wanderers at Vicarage Road as an acid test.
"We haven't got time to dwell on past results," he explains, looking ahead. "We've got two league games this week against clubs who have the capability to challenge for promotion."
Injury-plagued striker Allan Smart, who scored the second of Watford's goals against Wanderers in the 1999 Play-off Final, has been out of the picture with a niggling knee injury but could come into the reckoning after making a two-goal comeback in the Reserves last week. But it's hard to imagine how Taylor could accommodate him in a team bursting with attacking talent.
Gifton Noel-Williams and Darren Ward did everything but score against Gillingham but it doesn't stop there with the Hornets, for whom ex-Wanderer, Neil Cox, scored a brace from full-back in the 3-1 victory over QPR.
Meanwhile, Watford have announced that they are to develop Vicarage Road rather than relocate to a new stadium.
Plans to build a new stadium had been mooted but chief executive Tim Shaw admitted: "To move would create a huge debt for the club.
"There just isn't a big enough site within Watford, given that we want to remain within the boundaries of the town we represent and serve."
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