text: With 20 goals to his name this season, Watford captain Troy Deeney is regarded by many as the best striker outside the Premier League. In fact, Deeney has been lighting up the Championship for the last three seasons, scoring 64 goals in 123 league games at an average of over a goal every other game. The next logical step for the Birmingham-born striker is the top flight and, with Watford just a point off the top of the table with five games to go, he could well be skippering the Hornets in the Premier League next season. Watford striker Troy Deeney won the Championship's Player of the Month award for March . Hornets skipper Deeney is hoping to cap off a fine season by leading Watford to the Premier League . Deeney believes he can follow in the path of Charlie Austin and Danny Ings  by becoming a Premier League hit . Watford are currently just one point behind Championship leaders Bournemouth with five games left to play . And Deeney, who was this week named the Sky Bet Championship player of the month for March, makes no secret of his desire to test himself at the highest level. He said: 'I've looked at Charlie Austin, Danny Ings, Rickie Lambert and Grant Holt before that. 'These are all people that have been in the Championship, done well, then held their own in the Premier League. 'There is a sign there that you can really go on (from the Championship). If you go in and apply yourself then you can score goals. 'I want to make sure that when I go up there I'm ready for it and I show what I'm about.' It seems fair for Deeney to say 'when' and not 'if' he plays at the top level because on this season's evidence he and striker partner Odion Ighalo certainly are ready for it. Between them the Championship's most lethal strikeforce have scored 39 league goals this season and Deeney waxed lyrical about his Nigerian strike partner. 'He's a natural finisher,' he said. 'Before Saturday (when Ighalo scored from 20 yards in the win over Middlesbrough) we had been joking that all of his goals were inside the 18-yard box. 'He's definitely a poacher and when he scores he normally scores doubles, one game he got four. He scores in bunches which is a sign of a real good striker.' Deeney is adamant that together he and Ighalo could terrorise Premier League defences. 'I've been and watched a few games this season and I don't see why not,' he said. Watford striker Odion Ighalo has also been in fine goalscoring form during the course of the campaign . Deeney has been impressed with Slavisa Jokanovic since the Watford manager took charge in October . 'I think you have to be very ruthless in the Premier League and we've shown that we can score goals. 'Are we confident we can do it? Definitely.' Watford - currently third in the table and kept out of the top two only on goal difference - joined the promotion-chasing pack late after a turbulent start to the season saw three managers depart before current boss Slavisa Jokanovic took charge in October. But referring to that period Deeney, who has played under seven managers since joining Watford from Walsall in 2010, insists: 'It wasn't that bad.' He added: 'It definitely brought the players closer together. 'It's just one of those things really, in any line of work if your manager changes your job doesn't change.' Watford have won 15 of Jokanovic's 27 matches in charge and Deeney has been impressed by the Serbian's tactical flexibility. Ahead of Saturday's trip to Millwall, he said: 'We've got a talented squad so we can go from 4-4-2 to 4-4-2 diamond to 3-5-2 or 4-3-3. 'His (Jokanovic's) adaptability would be the one thing that makes him stand out.' Former Watford boss Beppe Sannino handed Deeney the captain's armband during his brief spell in charge . But Deeney's role in the revival of Watford's season, not just as goalscorer but as captain, cannot be underestimated. Beppe Sannino made him captain before the start of the season and Deeney seems to have taken to the role like a duck to water. 'I was very vocal anyway,' he said. 'If I've got something to say I'm going to say it anyway, good or bad, and I think that once people know me they respect that. 'If you're doing good I'll tell you you're doing good, if you're doing wrong I'll tell you you're doing wrong. I don't expect anything else of others towards myself. 'The added responsibility of now having to lead even more by example, I think that's the only that's changed. 'But then I think I did it pretty well beforehand, I think that's why they made me captain. They know what I'm about and what I offer. 'But now it's a case of justifying why they have made that decision.' Deeney served three months in prison for affray in 2012 and says it is no coincidence he has enjoyed by far the best three seasons of his career since his release. Deeney has warned his Watford team-mates they have 'three weeks of hard work' ahead of them . 'The two are definitely linked,' he admits. 'But it's more down to personal growth and realising what an opportunity I had, instead of being an idiot and just letting my chance go by. 'I've just grasped it with both hands and become a better footballer and a better person for it, so it (prison) was probably a blessing in disguise.' Captaining Watford in the Premier League next season, Deeney admits, would be the crowning glory after three years' hard work following his release. 'That would be the fairytale ending,' said the 26-year-old. 'But we've got three weeks of hard work before we can even start thinking about that, so I'm just going to keep working and hopefully that fairytale can come true.' You get the feeling Deeney will be playing in the Premier League regardless of what happens in the next few weeks. But  Watford have as good a chance as any of promotion with their talismanic captain in the side.
target: Watford striker Troy Deeney is yet to play in the Premier League .
  Deeney is regarded as one of the best strikers outside the top-flight .
  He has scored 64 goals in 123 games during his last three seasons .
  The Hornets are currently just one point behind leaders Bournemouth .