Arsenal 4-0 Watford: Flores warns Hornets not to lose Premier League focus ahead of FA Cup semi-final

Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores admitted his disappointment after his side suffered a 4-0 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday 2 April. The Spaniard admitted that the Gunners deserved the victory and warned that his players would be committing a big mistake if their have their minds on the FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.

The Hornets knocked out the Gunners from the FA Cup with a brilliant defensive performance at the Emirates Stadium just last month. However, they failed to replicate the same display on Saturday and conceded Alexis Sanchez's opener in the fourth minute of the game. Alex Iwobi doubled the Gunners advantage minutes later, while Hector Bellerin and Theo Walcott completed the confortable victory in the second half of the game.

The defeat leaves Watford 10 points above the relegation, despite having suffered four consecutive defeats in the Premier League. Flores, nevertheless, is aware that his side still need three points to be completely safe and has urged his side to forget about their trip to Wembley to focus in the Premier League.

"It's important we don't confuse the targets," Flores said after the game as was quoted by Watford Observer. "The semi-final of the FA Cup is a real situation we have in the future but we have to live in the present. And the present is in six days we have to play against Everton, this is our target. If players or the staff are thinking about what's happening in three weeks we are making a big, big mistake. The most important is the next match, the most important is the Premier League.

"But when we say that, we are the same group, players and staff are in the same group. If we are making some mistakes, everyone is making these mistakes but now we need to get out of this situation. The semi-final is coming in three weeks, now it's the league. It's time to focus on the league and be competitive in the league."

The manager, nevertheless, admitted that the Gunners deserved the victory as his side were too soft.

"We are not happy of course because it's the first time we've conceded four goals and our performance was a bit light, it was soft," he admitted. "We were not at the best level to challenge Arsenal but they deserved to win easily because they played really well, really fast and with great power. We are not in our best period of the season and they deserved to win."