He may have only played twice in the yellow of Watford, but January signing Mauro Zarate reckons the club’s ambitious outlook means they have a big future ahead of them.

The 29-year-old joined the Hornets from West Ham last month, and has since featured for Walter Mazzarri’s side against Burnley and Manchester United.

Watford will face Zarate’s former side this weekend, and he admits the passion of the Hammers supporters was the highlight of his time in London.

But the Argentine playmaker is adamant that despite sitting 13th in the table at the moment, Watford’s desire to become one of the league’s major players will see them surge up the standings.

“Maybe there are many teams in the Premier League who are bigger than Watford, but Leicester won the league last season so we already know that anything is possible,” he said.

“One thing for sure is that this club has a lot of ambition so you never know, maybe one day we can arrive in the Europa League or win a cup.

“We will need to play very well to do that, but if we can achieve something like this at Watford it will be very good for the club.

“The West Ham fans were very passionate and I like this. They were very similar to the Lazio fans in that respect. For a player it is good to have this kind of support from the fans.

“But now I’m happy to be at Watford and it’s another new challenge.

“I want to play, I want to do well, I want to do my job and show that I am a player who is ready to do very well in the Premier League.”

Saido Berahino hopes to land his first start in a Stoke City shirt after completing extra training.

The 23-year-old striker moved to the bet365 Stadium in the January transfer window for £12million from West Bromwich Albion.

He has made two substitute appearances for the Potters since joining, and is yet to open his scoring account.

Mark Hughes’s side sit ninth in the Premier League, and take on Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Photo by Mark Robinson/Getty Images

Berahino, a one-time Spurs target, will be aiming to break his City duck when the sides clash, having got himself back up to full fitness.

“I have been doing a lot of work with the group, but also a lot, every day, away from them too, to make sure I am getting my levels right back up to where we want them to be,” the Burundi-born striker said.

“The extra work has finished now because I am in good condition and now it is just about maintaining what I have and improving on that with minutes in the Premier League.

“I have already been used in a couple of games, which has been fantastic for me, but the next step is to try and start a game and then come through that too, hopefully having made a good impact.”

Marco Silva’s winning mentality is rubbing off on his Hull players, says Tigers captain Curtis Davies.

Silva took the reins at the KCOM Stadium on January 5 after the departure of Mike Phelan.

Since then, City have lost just twice in the Premier League, away clashes against Chelsea and Arsenal, and have shown vast improvement in their fight for survival.

They are now just one point from safety, and have key clashes against fellow strugglers Leicester and Swansea looming.

Silva has won honours in Greece with Olympiakos and in his native Portugal with Sporting Lisbon, and Davies said this habit of winning is seeping into the attitude of Hull’s players.

Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images

“We’re massively organised now and he’s come with a winning mentality, he’s come from his last job at Olympiakos where he won the league in record time,” the centre back said.

“But saying that he came in and believed we can stay up. When he came in he said ‘I’ve looked at you, looked at your performances and I believe you’ve got something good here. I want to work with you just to get you over that little edge from performances into results’, and that’s what he’s done so far.

“I think when you’re in a Hull City side you’re always going to be in and around the bottom so you’re always ready for that mentally anyway.

“Our start to the season, with 13 fit players nobody gave us a chance anyway. But the fact that now it’s looking like three from six teams, it’s an even bigger chance for us.”

James Ward-Prowse insists his Southampton side are focused solely on themselves heading into Saturday’s EFL Cup final against Manchester United.

The Saints last tasted cup success at Wembley in the Football League Trophy back in 2010 and won the Football League Trophy back in 1979.

United meanwhile are near perennial Wembley finalists and the defending FA Cup champions are looking for their first title under Jose Mourinho.

With the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba at their disposal, they will take some stopping.

But Ward-Prowse – who was part of the side that won 1-0 at Old Trafford last season – insists they will not be thinking too much about their opponents.

“I think we have to be solely focused on ourselves,” he said.

“I think there’s got to be an element of what the opposition does and how we can counteract that, but we have to be focused on ourselves and make sure we assert ourselves, especially early in the game, to be on the front foot and let them know they’re in for a game.

“Obviously, we have to show them respect, but we ultimately want to win the match and we’ll do everything to make sure we can do that.”

Midfielder Emerson Hyndman continues to impress north of the border, and Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe is delighted with the 20-year-old’s progress.

Though Glasgow Rangers are currently enduring a poor run of form, Hyndman, on loan since January, has certainly been a bright spot, laying on Joe Garner’s goal in the weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Dundee.

Rangers have won one of their last six Scottish Premiership matches and consequently Mark Warburton has been relieved of his managerial duties.

Despite the chaos Hyndman continues to shine and Howe believes this period will be pivotal in the American’s development.

“I’m really pleased for Emerson. He’s a really talented player, he’s going to be great player for the future,” said Howe.

“This loan spell was just what he needed, not just in terms of playing the games, but also the stature of the club he’s at.

“What an experience for him – to play under that pressure and expectation at a club like Rangers will do him the world of good.

“It is a really important part of his development.”

Arsène Wenger has vowed to keep fighting despite Arsenal’s recent slump in form and calls for him to resign.

The Gunners are set to miss out on silverware both in the league and in Europe this season, as they sit ten points behind Chelsea and went down 5-1 in the first leg of their Champions League tie with Bayern Munich.

That has left the Frenchman under pressure to step down at the end of the season, ending more than two decades in North London.

But while Wenger has not yet publically announced whether he will be staying put, he insists his fire burns as strongly as ever.

(Warren Little/Getty Images)

“I’m a competitor,” Wenger said. “If I speak with my neighbour at six or seven, I was already competing for everything. I was born like that. When I lose games, of course it’s difficult to take.

“Every defeat is harder. I can never transmit to you my feelings about defeats. A player when I managed for the first time at 33 or 34 said that after our first defeat I threw up. Whether you are young or old, every defeat hurts.

“I’m a positive person. I am a fighter, somewhere – you don’t stay so long in this job otherwise. I’ve always seen the future in a positive way. I do not expect too much from outside, I expect more from me inside.

“The expectation level gets higher. The fight doesn’t get higher. The fight is always tough. When you hate defeat like I hate defeat, it’s always tough. I’m determined to always fight back.”

Chelsea keeper Asmir Begovic has hailed skipper John Terry as one of the best defenders in Premier League history.

The Serbian stopper kept a clean sheet in the Blues’ 2-0 win at Wolves in the FA Cup on Sunday.

Terry marshalled a three-man defence in front of Begovic, with Kurt Zouma and Nathan Ake either side of him.

And Begovic believes Terry, 36, should be applauded for his consistent performances when he is called upon – despite manager Antonio Conte using him as more of a squad player this year with a preferred back line of Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta.

Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

“He’s a world-class defender, arguably the best defender in Premier League history, so he has talent and ability,” said the Chelsea goalkeeper.

“When he’s called to play he’s reliable and he’s there for us to use. We have great competition for places, especially in that defensive area, so regardless of who is called upon to play we’re very comfortable.

“The three defenders in front of me – Zouma, JT and Nathan – were fantastic. They helped out a lot and they covered each other.

“They had to deal with a lot of high balls and crosses into the box and, as the game went on, we managed to stop those coming in. The three boys did really well.”

Kevin De Bruyne has praised the attention to detail shown by manager Pep Guardiola, adding the Spaniard’s preparation is like no other coach he has worked with.

The Belgian star, 25, is part of a City team which sits second in the Premier League, winning their last three after a 4-0 demolition at Everton in January.

City drew 0-0 at Championship promotion chasers Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup on Saturday, and face French Ligue 1 pace-setters Monaco in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday.

But whether the opponents are from West Yorkshire or the south of France, De Bruyne says his manager’s pre-match efforts are never compromised.

Photo by Nils Petter Nilsson/Ombrello/Getty Images

“Pep prepares games in detail like no other,” said the midfielder. “He is not going to do something differently against Huddersfield and now against Monaco.

“The most important thing for him is that the team are standing good and performing at the best level.

“He talks with the players about different stuff – not only football but families. He is a very good manager and I think he is doing a good job.

“There can be a week where we talk every day. It depends how it goes – how I’m feeling, how he’s feeling.

“He can speak with everybody lots of times. We are working almost every day together.”

Jan Vertonghen made his first Tottenham appearance for over a month in Sunday’s 3-0 FA Cup win over Fulham, but the Belgian defender said youngster Harry Winks was the main attraction.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side fell to a disappointing 1-0 Europa League defeat against Ghent in mid-week but a Harry Kane hat-trick ensured that they bounced back in style against Fulham.

And 29-year-old Vertonghen said he felt Winks, 21, was continuing to impress and could go on to emulate the sustained success of Kane and Dele Alli.

“I thought Harry had a really good game against Gent as well, even though the result wasn’t as good. You can see how he’s improved over the last couple of years – it’s unbelievable,” he said.

“He’s a great player and for me, he can be the next Dele or Harry Kane. There is lots of competition in midfield but he’ll be a very good player for Spurs over the years.”

(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

Vertonghen was also delighted with his own shift, coming through 90 minutes to give Spurs a boost ahead of Thursday’s second leg with Ghent.

“It was a great game to come back for. At the end I was a bit tired but it’s good to be back and get 90 minutes straight away – I didn’t expect that but it felt good,” he said.

“We wanted to get back on track and we did well, we created plenty of chances and everyone was at the top of their game. Fulham had a couple of chances before half-time but other than that we had a very good game. The fans were great from the start until the end as well and now we’re in the quarter-finals.”

Teenager Marcus Rashford insists his Manchester United side will be ready for the challenge of Premier League leaders Chelsea when the two sides meet in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

United came from behind to beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Ewood Park, while the Blues overpowered Wolves at Molineux thanks to strikes from Pedro and Diego Costa.

Now Rashford, who scored in the Reds’ win at Blackburn along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is under no illusion to the threat that the runaway league leaders pose.

And 19-year-old Rashford has vowed Jose Mourinho’s men will be ready for whatever Chelsea throw at them when the sides meet at Stamford Bridge on March 11.

Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

Conte’s side won 4-0 in the corresponding league fixture in October but United have not lost a league game since, going 16 unbeaten.

“They have one over on us so we will definitely be going there to win the game,” said the England international.

“At this stage of the competition, we are going to be coming up against top quality opposition no matter where you go.

“They are in good form, but so are we, and we will be looking to go there and win the game.”