Arlauskis hoping England clash boosts Watford chances

Giedrius Arlauskis is hoping a positive performance for Lithuania against England on Monday will help his prospects of getting regular first-team football at Watford.

The 27-year-old goalkeeper joined the Premier League club at the beginning of the season after a year with Steaua Bucharest, but so far he has only managed a single appearance during the League Cup defeat at Preston North End in August.

Arlauskis has played in seven of Lithuania’s nine Euro 2016 qualifiers so far and is expected to return to the starting XI in Vilnuis on Monday after missing Friday’s 1-1 draw at Slovenia due to suspension.

And he is looking to take the opportunity with both hands, keen to impress the Watford fans who have seen very little of him domestically.

He said: “I am very happy [at Watford]. It is a really good team, a new team. I am in the strongest league in the world – that is not only my opinion.

“I am left out of the [Watford] team and I am doing my best to get in the starting line-up, but of course it is not easy for a Lithuanian player to just come in and get in the starting line-up.

“I need some time for that but I am really happy at the club. Of course it is a motivation for me to play against England because the English fans and the Watford fans have not seen me play much so far.

“It is a double motivation to prove that, but on the other hand it is not that I am just going to prove anything to anybody.

“The club coach knows me, the national coaches know me. I am going to play to just help my team first of all.”