Slaven Bilić’s midfield options are bolstered by the return of Leandro Bacuna for this weekend’s visit of Rotherham United (Saturday January 21, 3pm KO).
The Watford boss confirmed in his press conference today (Friday January 20) that the Curaçaon midfielder would at least be available for a place on the substitutes’ bench at Vicarage Road.
Hamza Choudhury played 70 minutes of last weekend’s 2-0 victory over Blackpool, and Bilić expects the 25-year-old to be fit to play the full 90 minutes against the Millers.
Right-back Jeremy Ngakia suffered a hamstring injury in training this week and will have a scan today to assess its severity.
Bilić explained: “I spoke with him and he doesn’t think it’s as bad as it was last time; hopefully it’ll only be a few weeks.”
The Croatian believes new signing João Ferreira will fill his teammate’s position sufficiently, having made his debut against the Tangerines in the second half.
With tough fixtures against Middlesbrough, Reading and Blackburn to come, Bilić will have “three or four” senior players returning to training next week.
“I expect a few of them to be back for Reading, but the word I am using the most in life is balance,” added the Head Coach. “You want them fit, so you don’t want them to play one game and then get injured again, but we don’t want to walk on eggshells.”
