Jay DeMerit says it is self belief that has propelled Watford into pole position for a swift return to the Premier League, only a season after leaving it.

The Hornets are top of the Championship with five wins from seven games - a stark contrast to national team colleague Frankie Simek, whose Sheffield Wednesday sit last - and the Wisconsin-born US international says it is all down to last season’s experience.

"The main thing is the confidence we now have," DeMerit told American Soccer Daily.

"Since we played a year in the Premiership, we know that we should be one of the better teams when we walk out on that field in the Championship. We have got that mentality that we should be getting the three points. Our only goal this season is to get back in the Premiership - so far, so good."

Saturday's 1-1 tie at QPR kept the Hornets top, although their lead was cut to two points by a resurgent Charlton, another exile from the top flight.

"We have been doing to other teams what was done to us in the Premier League," DeMerit explained. "Winning in the last couple of minutes, winning after going behind, not only believing in yourself but the team as a whole grinding out results."

With 39 games left to play however, DeMerit is not about to crack open any champagne yet.

"We have played a lot of the so-called top teams in this division and we are happy to be where we are right now," he said, "But we know we still have a lot of work to do and a lot of games to play. I think we have realized it is going to be a grind and there is not much difference between a lot of the teams."

DeMerit recently penned a one-year extension to his contract, which will keep him at Vicarage Road until 2010, ending speculation linking him with a move to Middlesbrough.

"Paper talk is paper talk," he stated. "But I have always been happy here playing under Aidy (Boothroyd), so me signing for another year was important for the club as well as for myself. It was a situation where everyone wins."

The Watford boss hailed his center back as a future captain of Watford and the US National Team, an accolade which made DeMerit chuckle when he first heard it.

"I've got a lot of work to do on that front as I am relatively new on the national team," he reacted, "But down the line of course you always want to be considered as skipper on any team that you are on. It is really nice to hear your manager say those things about you and that drives me to be the player he expects me to be every week. Signing a new deal was my pledge to him."

Watford host Blackpool on Saturday.