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Johnny Edward
William Troost-Ekong will be available for selection when Watford takes on Blackpool on Saturday having successfully recovered from a hamstring injury he picked up while on international duty with Nigeria, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Troost-Ekong picked up a hamstring injury and was withdrawn from the Nigeria’s 2-2 draw against Algeria’s B team. His injury ruled him out of the game against Algeria’s main team which the Foxes won 2-1.
The defender has made two league appearances for the Hornets so far this season, and Head Coach Slaven Bilić confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that the 29-year-old is in contention for a return after missing the Stoke and Swansea games.
Bilic 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.”
“It wasn’t an injury that needed a long break, and so he trained yesterday. He looks good and is definitely going to be in the squad.
“Cathcart and Gaspar won’t be involved. With Sierralta we are going to see how he is. It wasn’t a big injury and so we are assessing him.”
Bilic also revealed that Tom Dele-Bashiru is making good progress after he returned to training following his lateral collateral ligament injury in August.
The former Nigerian U-20 midfielder has been training with the first team but Craig Cathcart and Mario Gaspar will miss the trip to the north west, as do Joao Pedro, Kortney Hause, Tom Cleverley, Jeremy Ngakia.