Tom Cleverley has rejoined the Watford squad and is in contention for selection on Saturday’s game with Brighton and Hove Albion.

The midfielder has been sidelined since he limped out of the goalless draw against Bournemouth back in October, but this week has seen him return to full training along with the likes of Danny Welbeck and Will Hughes who returned the week before.

Additionally, Ismaila Sarr is nearing full fitness, but this weekend could come too soon for the Senegalese winger, who head coach Nigel Pearson is keen to exercise caution with to ensure that he returns for the long term.

“Tom Cleverley’s trained with us continually now so he’s in contention," said Pearson.

"We had Welbeck back last week so that’s good for us.

“We’ll assess Sarr a bit more tomorrow and make decisions on that. [Daryl] Janmaat is going to be back out on the grass with use next week, which is good for us and Kiko’s [Femenia] making progress as well.”

“It’s always a danger to put players at risk with soft tissue injuries and you have to also understand with sprinters, and [Sarr] is a sprinter, there’s more danger. Again, with missing players it’s probably counter-productive to put players at risk when actually they might need an extra week.

“We’ll assess it - with any injury like that you have to calculate risk and decide whether or not it’s a risk worth taking, but we’ve got 13 games left and it’s important we make sure players like him, when they’re back, stay back.”