Anyone at Bramall Lane last Saturday could have seen Hamza Choudhury laying flat out on the pitch after the final whistle.

The midfielder had given another of his lung-busting all-action performances, seemingly being everywhere and never tiring.

It was his 27th start for the club in the Championship since joining on loan from Leicester City in the summer, making him one of the top five league appearance makers this season for Watford.

During that time his stats in terms of ground covered and tackles made are right up there, and he always comes back for more.

That’s what made seeing him prone on the pitch after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat was so unusual.

“Obviously everyone is tired at the end of a game, but that was pure frustration,” he explained.

“I don’t feel we deserved to lose the game.

“We were just missing something in the final third to create more chances and then put them away.

“We were playing away and yet for long parts of the game we had the ball in their final third, and were moving it from side to side. What we didn’t do was create much.

“Sheffield United are full of lots of good experienced players, they’re playing in front of their home fans – look at what they did to Spurs in the FA Cup – and yet we had them on the back foot.

“It feels to me like there is a little switch for quality that we need to flick, and then we’ll win these games and be right up there.”

The 25-year-old prides himself on his energy and desire to get around the pitch.

“I feel like covering the ground is a big part of my game, and as a defensive midfielder it’s important you have those energy levels,” he said.

“You need it in the Championship and particularly in the Premier League, if you’re going to stand out and also help your team.

“Doing that running is a key part of my game, and I enjoy it.”

After two loan spells at Burton Albion, Choudhury broke into the Leicester City team as a 20-year-old and has made more than 80 outings for the Foxes in both the Premier League and European competitions.

However, the fact that almost half of those outings came as a substitute meant the midfielder decided he needed to move away again in order to enjoy sustained first-team football.

“It was my choice to go out on loan. For the last couple of windows I’d been wanting to get out and go to play games,” he explained.

“As much as I love Leicester – I grew up there and it’s my home-town club – it was all about playing games.

“I was in for a few then out of the team, and I was really looking for stability and to be able to go out and play football, and enjoy it.

“I had a few Championship offers, and I wanted to choose somewhere that I thought I was going to get regular game time.

“It wasn’t really a case of rebuilding my career, it was more going somewhere that I could get a strong foothold in the game and then move forward.

“I thought Watford was the perfect club for me to do that. There were a few other clubs in the Championship that were interested, but I watched Watford’s first couple of games and I could see the squad they had.

“Then I spoke to the manager, and it was really exciting what Rob Edwards wanted to do here combined with the quality of the lads at the club.

“I’d played at Vicarage Road before so I knew it as an away player, and it was a move I was excited to make.”

Choudhury played eight games for Edwards before the head coach lost his job at Vicarage Road.

However, he puts injuries ahead of change behind the scenes as the reason why Watford’s form has been so inconsistent.

“It wasn’t harder to settle in because we had a change of manager, but it was definitely a change of philosophy and a different style of play,” he said.

“The hardest thing this season, for all the players, has been the injuries though. It’s made us so up and down.

“We’d get players back for four or five games and then they’re out again, and for any club to have that many injuries makes it really hard to build any momentum and maintain a high level of performance.

Watford Observer:

“Having said that, I think we’ve done really well with what we’ve had to deal with.

“We had Mario Gaspar in midfield for four or five games, Dan Gosling at right back – they’ve done a great job when they’ve played there."

Choudhury himself was out for four weeks, picking up a knee injury just 15 minutes into the first game back after the World Cup break against Hull City in December.

“That was my first long injury, and I guess an injury like that was always going to happen because pretty much every player gets them,” he said.

“Luckily mine wasn’t too bad and the staff here made it really easy for me and because around that time we were only playing Saturdays I didn’t feel like I missed too many games.

“I don’t like watching games when I’m dying to be involved but injury means I can’t. I love watching football at any other time but not when I could be playing.

“The lads did well though and the win away at Norwich really sticks out in my mind.

“We were down to the bare bones, and for them to go away to somewhere like Norwich and win was amazing.”

Unfortunately, the memorable win at Carrow Road has been outnumbered when compared to bad away displays. Which of the dismal showings on the road that he played in was the worst?

“I think Millwall away was the worst of the lot,” Choudhury said.

“They were, and are, doing very well but we knew what to expect and we ended up being beaten so poorly.

“Each player was disappointed that night to be honest, because we knew what to expect and we just let the game run away from us in the first half.

“We’d been to Stoke and dealt with a similar challenge, and the Saturday before we’d beaten Norwich at home. When you win a tough game like Norwich you want to use that as a platform, but then on the Wednesday night we didn’t perform and it feels like you’re having to build up from the bottom again.

“That night we lost Imran Louza after 15 minutes and stuff like that definitely does affect the team and the way you play. It does affect your mindset but as players it’s down to us to stay strong in those situations.

“We’ve had a very up and down season with away results, for certain.”

Back to the positives, and Choudhury was part of the team that thumped Luton at Vicarage Road in October – his first taste of the derby.

“Before I came to Watford, I spoke to James Justin at Leicester who I’m quite close to. He came through at Luton and he was telling me how big the derby games were.

“Then when I came here the other lads were talking about it, so I marked those two dates on the calendar.

“In the week leading up to the game I could sense the feeling around the club, and in the town itself.

“On the day there was definitely a different atmosphere, so for us to blow them out of the water like we did was amazing.

“We made a great start that day, and I feel that is something that we have lacked on too many occasions this season. We’ve started slowly too often and it’s been difficult for us to work out why.

“I think we’ve started matches more confidently recently, getting on the front foot. But if we started games like we started against Luton then we are capable of doing to anyone what we did to them.”

Only three league wins in 2023 means Watford are now playing catch-up just to get into the play-offs.

“We’ve got find a couple of extra gears. It’s down to us to sort that,” admitted Choudhury.

“If you looked at the February fixtures before the month started then we knew it was going to be a tough run of matches.

“What’s frustrating is when I look back on each game in February, I think we should have won.

Watford Observer:

“Reading away we were 2-0 up, Burnley away we conceded from a set piece in stoppage time.

“Blackburn at home is a game we should have won and then Sheffield United we should have taken something from. The only game we won was West Brom.

“Ok, maybe winning all of them is taking it a bit far but we should have taken something from each game last month.

“It’s frustrating that we didn’t, and it means we’ve got a big March ahead of us.”

With three out of four games at home in March, does that mean the matches at Vicarage Road will put the players under greater pressure?

“If there is any extra pressure on the home games coming up then it’s pressure we’ve put on ourselves,” conceded Choudhury.

“There will be an expectation that the next three home games should mean nine points, but I feel we should be excited by that given the players we have.

“You’ll look at each of three games beforehand and feel like you should win it.

“I really believe the work we’ve been doing in games and on the training pitch will show through in the next few matches.”

One thing Watford fans haven’t seen from Choudhury is a goal. In fact he hasn’t had that many goal attempts either! However, ask him about his last goal and he quickly recalls it.

“The last goal was in the Europa League, away to AEK Athens in October 2020,” he smiled.

“It’s not that goalscoring isn’t part of my game, and it’s something I want to add a little bit more of.

“If I’m not scoring goals then I should maybe play more creative passes in the final third. Try to look forward rather than sideways.

“But when we’re going forward a lot of the time my job is to protect the back four, and provide a screen against any counter-attacks.

“So I’m not always necessarily busting a gut to get in the box or around, but I do feel it is something I can do and it’s an area I want to improve on really.”

Choudhury may not have many goals to his name, but he does boast an FA Cup winner’s medal from Leicester’s 1-0 win over Chelsea at Wembley in 2021.

“That was one of the best days of my career. I think I played 10 or 15 minutes but it was an amazing experience with a group of friends really,” he said.

“A lot of the lads were just friends that I’d played football with for years – the likes of Harvey Barnes and me have been around each other for 10 or 15 years, so to do that with them was amazing.”

Having progressed through the ranks with the Foxes, Choudhury was a pro when they pulled off one of football’s all-time great shocks and won the Premier League in 2016.

“I was on loan at Burton that season, but that was something that changed the club,” he said.

“Anyone who said they saw it coming would be lying! I think any club will struggle to do what Leicester did that season in the future. It was something you dream of.

“The owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, God rest his soul, always had really, really big dreams from the day he came in.

“He said he wanted to play Champions League football within five years of him buying the club, and I think at that point everyone thought that was a bit of a stretch.

Watford Observer:

“But the club went and won the Premier League and then did really well in the Champions League the season after.

“In comparison to other clubs, Leicester had a small budget but Vichai had big dreams and the players we had in that dressing room, and the talent they had, was frightening.

“From the keeper all the way up to Jamie Vardy, they were all really high-quality players and they have shown that in the years since.”

Choudhury has seven England Under-21 caps, but is eligible to play for both Grenada and Bangladesh, and representing the latter is something he has spoken about previously.

“This is my first full season of playing week in, week out. I’m concentrating on my club football,” he said.

“Trying to help get Watford back into the Premier League is all that’s on my mind.”

Nonetheless, as one of very few British-Bangladeshi professional footballers in England, Choudhury is held up as an example and role model to others in the British South Asian community.

“I’ve talked about it in the past but I’ve never really seen myself as a role model,” he said modestly.

“I’ve almost ended up in that position and I enjoy it, and I feel I can help move things forward to get more Asians into the game.

“That can be at any level, it doesn’t have to be as a player. It can be coaching, as a physio, anywhere on the staff.

“When you look at the demographic of the country it is staggering to wonder why there aren’t more Asians involved in football.

“I think there are a lot of different reasons, but one of them isn’t lack of love for the game. Asians in this country are mad about football.

“There’s definitely more fans of football than cricket. Growing up in school, everyone on the playground gets a ball, puts two jumpers down and plays footy.

“There’s not one particular thing blocking it, like I said it’s multiple reasons. But I do feel like times are changing – Zidane Iqbal has broken through at Man Utd and there are a few more in the Football League.

“Change is happening fast and it won’t surprise me to see a few more Asians involved in the game in the next couple of years.”

Watford Observer:

One thing that you can’t miss when you see Choudhury is the big hair!

“I had a haircut just before I got to Watford, and I’ve been dying to get one ever since,” he laughed.

“But the lady who does my hair is in Leicester and it’s just trying to find the time to go and get it done.

“I think the last time I had it short I was about 13 or 14. My Mum is always telling me to get it cut. But the good thing is I don’t need to do anything to it in the morning. Water, that’s it.”