Watford boss Adrian Boothroyd has warned Derby County they're set to go straight back down following their Premiership promotion last week.

Boothroyd said: "When you go up through the play-offs you have to strengthen, but we were starting behind everyone. We got promoted three weeks later than Reading and Sheffield United.

"And it doesn't matter how much money you wave, established players don't want to come to a promoted team. It's, 'Hold your horses - come back in January and we'll see how you're doing'.

"The other thing you find is that, not only is the level of technique higher, but the level of physical commitment is as well.

"With the physical side, we might have thought we were better at that than anybody else.

"But when you pick a team to go and rough up Arsenal, and you stand in the tunnel and you see Thierry Henry and Emanuel Adebayor towering over your players, you have to say, 'We're in for it today'.

"You think if you restrict them to putting it on Henry's head you'll be all right. Then they cross it and he's nearly touching the floodlights when he heads the ball.

"You try to out-technical them and find they're better - that's no surprise. A Cesc Fabregas or a Wayne Rooney is worth more money than this club, than this town probably!

"So you try to out-physical them, but you still find teams are incredibly strong and athletic.

"On top of that, they keep the ball better, they make you chase it, so it's less tiring for them.

"If all the games had finished after 80 minutes, we'd have been 12th. We dropped 19 points in the last 10 minutes of games and that's because we worked so hard trying to get the ball back."

Boothroyd also fears the system is weighted against new boys. He said: "The transfer window is a disaster for clubs lower down the league. It killed us.

"A month into the season, you lose Marlon King. What are you going to do? You limp on to January and then it's a fire sale."