Crystal Palace midfielder James McCarthy admits Watford were targeting Wilfried Zaha for Saturday's 1-0 win.

Palace grabbed the three points via Jordan Ayew's goal.

And McCarthy told Palace TV: "Obviously I was on the bench in the last game when we played them away and I could see there was a lot of fighting and a lot of niggly things on the pitch. Today was no different as well.

"A couple of their boys tried to wind up Wilf and obviously Wilf does his thing and goes past a couple of them. A couple of other times they've tried to get him sent off with wee niggly things, trying to nudge into him. But that's part and parcel of football and I thought Wilf was brilliant today.

"That's the type of game I like. To be honest, each and every one of us in that dressing room, we fight for each other. You can see the togetherness on the pitch and off the pitch. We're a good group and now we've got a decent points tally and we want to keep on top of it and make sure we finish the season strongly."