The last few days merely reinforce nothing surprises Alex Neil anymore in football.

David McNally's resignation came as shock to those inside as much as outside the club but tonight Neil must get the better of a Watford manager who is heavily touted for the sack despite guiding the Hornets to survival and the FA Cup semi-finals.

'Nothing surprises me in football,' said Neil, when prompted for his take on the speculation surrounding Quique Sanchez Flores.

'Particularly at the top level where everything is driven by staying up and finances. Jose Mourinho won the league and within three months he was gone. If that happens to him then no-one is safe. They have done well but they have spent somewhere near £50m, which certainly helps, but any team coming into the Premier League for their first season is going to find it tough.'

City failed to deal with the threat of Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo in a 2-0 defeat at Vicarage Road.

'They have two centre forwards who have got 70pc of their goals this season but they have scored one more than us despite having two guys up the top of the pitch in double figures,' he said. 'We didn't perform well as a team that day. We had actually prepared with a specific side and approach in mind but the weather conditions were horrific and I remember clearly, because as soon as I walked out onto the pitch I thought it is not going to suit how we planned to go about the match. We made a change at half-time and a couple shortly after but it wasn't a good day for us in terms of performance. I watched them recently beat West Brom, but West Brom played very well and their two centre-backs were dominant and kept those strikers quiet.'