Team News: Blackpool v Watford

Defender William Troost-Ekong is available for tomorrow’s Sky Bet Championship clash at Blackpool (Saturday October 8, 3pm KO), having successfully recovered from a hamstring injury he picked up while on international duty with Nigeria.

The Super Eagles skipper has made two league appearances for the Hornets so far this season, and Head Coach Slaven Bilić confirmed in his pre-match press conference that he is in contention for a return to the fold on the north west coast after missing the Stoke and Swansea clashes.

Bilić said: “Ekong trained with us yesterday [Thursday October 6] - he looks good, and he’s definitely going to be in the squad. That’s a big positive for us, particularly with our injury problems at the back.”

Francisco Sierralta and Mario Gaspar were both forced off with groin problems against Swansea in midweek, and while the former will be assessed ahead of the trip to Blackpool, the game will come too soon for the latter.

Stalwart defender Craig Cathcart (thigh) remains out after missing the last two games, and Bilić provided an update on the progress of João Pedro (calf) and Kortney Hause (knee), both of whom won’t be involved at Bloomfield Road.

“João Pedro is improving, but he is still sidelined,” Bilić said. “Hopefully he will be available for the Norwich game next weekend. We all know he is one of our most important players, so the sooner he’s back the better.

“Kortney has a bit of a bigger issue, and I think he’s going to be out for some time. He has a knee problem that prevents him from playing at 100 per cent, and I think it’s going to take some time to get right.”

Elsewhere, Tom Cleverley (achilles), Jeremy Ngakia (hamstring) and Rey Manaj (hamstring) continue to work on their respective recoveries, but Tom Dele-Bashiru is making good progress and is now back in training following his lateral collateral ligament injury.