Watford manager Roy Hodgson is hoping to spoil Manchester City's party when the teams face off at the Etihad on Saturday.

The Sky Blues are on top of the Premier League table, just one point ahead of Liverpool.

"We're going to try and make ourselves unpopular. Because if we want to make ourselves popular with Pep, and the Man City crowd and everyone else in the country, all we do really is we just go hell for leather to try and win the game and try and match them at their own game," said Hodgson.

"And that, as at least 99 per cent of people, certainly those working in football, will know, it's a recipe for disaster.

"So the only chance really is to go there and give their play the respect it deserves and to make certain that we make life as difficult for them as we possibly can, that we seal the spaces that they need to get into goalscoring positions and we'll try and make it very hard for the incredible quality players in the final third of the field to produce the passes or the crosses they need to produce.

"Then we hope of course, like everyone that goes up there, that when we do get the ball there'll be enough in our team, especially on the counter attack to give them a few problems of their own to solve. But that's really all you can do, and anything you promise beyond that is just leading people to believe in a fantasy football world."