Midfielder Imran Louza could start his first Watford game in 125 days tonight when Watford host West Brom at Vicarage Road (8pm).
The Moroccan international has made two brief substitute appearances in the last two games as he makes his comeback from the serious ankle injury he sustained early in the defeat at Millwall in October.
“The plan with Imran has always been for him to start the game against West Brom,” explained head coach Slaven Bilic.
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“For him to do that, we needed him to break the ice and play some minutes against Blackburn, and then some more minutes against Burnley.
“He’s done that and now we will see how he has reacted after playing in those two games. Hopefully, though, he will be fit to start the game.”
With Tom Cleverley sustaining a thigh injury during the warm-up at Turf Morr that has ruled him out for two months, Ken Sema had to start the game at Burnley but Bilic says the Swedish international came through the match well.
“We knew he could handle more than 45 minutes if we needed him to,” said the Watford boss.
“When I heard Tom had got injured in the warm-up, Ken came in and we didn’t have to change the system.
“I’m treating Ken now as a fit player. He has a green tick by his name. There are no question marks. The reason we took him off on Tuesday was because he couldn’t at that point manage the full 90 minutes.”
Tonight’s game will come too soon for defender Craig Cathcart after his recent groin injury. However, it’s hoped the Northern Ireland international will resume full training this week.
Full-backs Joao Ferreira and Jeremy Ngakia are still some way from fitness after both suffered hamstring injuries, and winger Samuel Kalu is also ruled out for the same reason.
Edo Kayembe’s recovery from a calf injury has not gone as smoothly as planned, and he is still sidelined.
Tom Dele-Bashiru (ankle) and Francisco Sierralta (broken toe) are still some way from being involved.
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