Slavisa Jokanovic insists Watford will travel to Derby County looking for the win tonight (Friday) – and will not be content with targeting just a point – as the Hornets head into arguably the most important weekend of their season.

The Golden Boys are second in the Championship and travel to fifth-placed Derby tonight before welcoming Middlesbrough, who are third, to Vicarage Road on Easter Monday.

Boro are level with the Hornets on 72 points – one below leaders Bournemouth – and Derby and Ipswich Town are five behind the automatic places.

Jokanovic believes Watford’s defeat last time out to Ipswich was because his side chased the win deep into injury time when they should have settled for a point, and ended up losing 1-0 to their promotion rivals.

So the head coach was asked if the Hornets’ attacking mentality will change for the Easter double-header; with avoiding defeat arguably more important than securing victory.

Jokanovic said: “It depends on the moment. If we speak about Ipswich then we didn’t want to sign up for a draw before the game. When we lost at the end we were very disappointed. We must understand about these moments in the game and we must be well prepared to go for the three points.

“Sometimes one point is a good result but our mentality is to go for the three points. Many things happen during a game and sometimes you can be happy with a point but if you are asking me if we are going to organise ourselves to get a draw and a 0-0 and only attack or score if we are lucky, then no. We will try to use our style of the last six months as this is not a time to change too much.”

There are seven games left this season. There are 21 points to play for. And, unbelievably, the top eight are separated by just eight points. The Championship is a remarkable division.

Watford face Millwall – who are fighting for Championship survival next weekend – but after that the Hornets have four games against teams who may have nothing to play for in two weeks time, in Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Sheffield Wednesday.

Jokanovic said: “It is very clear the situation in front of us and it is a big chance. We haven’t taken that chance yet. It now depends on us, our performances and about our confidence. I know what my players can do and the difficulties we have had in games.

“We have a short time to improve but if we can improve a little bit more then we can have a good chance to speak about the Premier League.”

He added: “We have made one good part of the season, but that is past. It doesn’t mean anything. We have seven games in front of us and all the wins and goals count double. It is who makes the least mistakes because we do not have time to fix them. I believe in concentration and I believe in my team.”

The Championship is a league renowned for its unpredictability but even by its own standards this season’s finale is set to be remarkable.

Jokanovic said: “Three months ago I thought it would be a clearer situation. It’s not. We have huge games in front of us, but nothing is definite.

“This season is complicated. It’s very nice for supporters and for the competition. If you ask me what I prefer, then I would like to be ten points clear. I would like it to be more boring.”

But it is sure to be far from that. Watford supporters and fans of the other clubs in the top eight are sure to be in for a roller-coaster ride.

Asked for his emotions ahead of the Derby clash, Jokanovic replied: “I am excited. But then I have been excited for the last 30 years.

“I understand this is a good chance. It is a good chance for me personally, it is a good chance for the club and this is a good chance for the supporters to be happy. If the supporters are happy then this is good news for us. We are here to make people happy, sometimes it is difficult, but this is our job.”