Leeds United went five points clear at the top of the Championship with a 4-0 hammering of Watford at Vicarage Road on Tuesday night

The challenge facing Sheffield United, Burnley and Sunderland in attempting to oust Leeds United from the promotion race was again laid out on Tuesday night with Watford boss Tom Cleverley making a big call on Daniel Farke’s side after the Hornets went down 4-0 at Vicarage Road.

In-form Dan James opened the scoring in the 20th minute after latching on to a misplaced pass from Edo Kayembe and then doubled the lead eight minutes later when Watford were caught out by a swift counter-attack.

Manor Solomon’s deflected effort made sure of the points before half time half-time, and Joel Piroe put the icing on the cake midway through the second period.

The scoreline meant that Leeds have netted 13 times without reply in their last three league outings and Cleverley was moved to describe Leeds as ‘one of the best’ sides he’s ever seen in the Championship.

“They punished us heavily and that comes with pace and quality. They smelled blood and really went for the kill,” said the Watford boss. “I’m not saying this to protect myself – honestly Leeds are one of the best teams I have seen at this level.

“This should give us the inspiration to get to the level we want to get to. As a player that level would inspire me to do more in my life to try to reach it.

“They are a very expensive squad so it’s a little unfair for me to compare my players against them but we could have done better in certain aspects. We have to get better and the only way we can do that is by sticking together.”

Farke was understandably delighted by the performance and his side’s form overall in recent months.

“We were excellent on the counter-attack and the way we scored the goals. I’m pretty happy with the scoreline and the clean sheet,” he said. “The fourth goal was poetry in motion I would say. The individual performance of the players up front was of the top level.

“All the topics that were important for this game we have delivered. The way we scored the goals was fantastic.”