WILL Hughes looks set to miss much of Watford’s hectic Christmas schedule with the 22-year-old midfielder still unsure of his return date to the first-team squad.

Marco Silva had hoped the ex-Derby man, who was just coming into a rich vein of form for the Hornets, scoring twice in as many games, would only be sidelined for a couple of weeks by a hamstring strain suffered in the 4-2 defeat by Manchester United on December 5.

But 10 days on the club, Silva and Hughes still are no closer to knowing how long the midfielder will be out for.

He joins long-term absentees Younes Kaboul and Craig Cathcart on the sidelines, with the latter finally able to feature for the Hornets from the moment the January transfer window opens ahead of the trip to Manchester City on January 2.

Kaboul has not featured since he was injured at Southampton in September and Silva has repeatedly made clear how significant he feels the 31-year-old’s absence is.

Isaac Success is closing in on a first-team return, but will look for a move away from the club during the transfer window if he is unlikely to earn any game time at Vicarage Road.

And Miguel Britos looks likely to have shaken off the injury which kept him out of Saturday’s loss at Burnley and Tuesday night’s defeat at Crystal Palace ready for tomorrow’s home clash with Huddersfield Town.