Heurelho Gomes has cut somewhat of a distant figure at Vicarage Road in recent times.

He is not one to shy away - his exuberant goal celebrations have endeared him to the Watford crowd since day one - but Gomes currently plays second fiddle to Orestis Karnezis.

The Greek stopper’s emergence as number one has seen Gomes, for the first time in his Watford career, forced onto the bench.

Little suggestion of a return to the Watford starting XI have led some to question Gomes’ long-term future at the club, but the Brazilian insists he is still relishing life at Vicarage Road.

“I have enjoyed being at Watford a lot and I am still enjoying it. The day I am not enjoying it is when I will stop,” Gomes said.

“Watford gave me the chance to enjoy my football again and prove I can do it at a high level.

“When I first came here and people started to question the ability to play at a big level but you have to show you can.

“The connection with the club is special and that is for a reason. I like to give back 100 per cent on the pitch. It is about passion and showing what the shirt means.”

Having arrived at Vicarage Road in 2014, Gomes has seen the club go through its fair share of change.

The 37-year-old played a key role in helping the Hornets return to the Premier League and the club is unrecognisable from the one he visited when with Tottenham Hotspur.

At the time of joining Watford, it represented a step down for Gomes, but he insists the rewards have been well worth the sacrifice.

“To see how the stadium was before to how it is now, it has changed so much. I played here with Tottenham and it was horrible and the changing room was so small,” he said.

“When I came here it was a step back but I came here for a reason, to get the club promoted. I believed that was just the beginning of what we could achieve.”

Those achievements have continued to arrive and securing a fourth year in the top flight represents the latest landmark for the Hornets.

Establishing themselves as a genuine Premier League side is no small feet for Watford and Gomes is proud to have been involved.

He believes the club were among the favourites to go down and says building on the success of disproving that opinion will be tough next season.

“The expectation was for us to go down,” Gomes said. “When I came here the aim was promotion and from that we had to build a team that could stay in the Premier League.

“It is very difficult to say we will be able to improve on what we have done this season next year.”

While securing safety with a game to spare means Watford have achieved the minimum expected of them, there is still a sense Watford’s season could have yielded more.

The Hornets have dropped points at regular intervals this season and Gomes accepts that there have been missed chances throughout the season.

“Of course, at the end of the season it is still good to be in the Premier League and it was our main point at the start of the season,” he said.

“We could have done much more and had 10 or 12 more points than we do.

“We played well at the start of the season and football is always like this. You do not always win even if you are the better team.

“We could have been safe earlier but the main thing is that we are safe going into the final game.”