Jose Manuel Jurado and Craig Cathcart look set to miss Watford’s Premier League game against table toppers Leicester City tomorrow due to injury.

Spanish midfielder Jurado hasn’t played for the Hornets since the 0-0 draw against Chelsea.

It was initially hoped the 29-year-old would only be ruled out for a couple of weeks. But almost a month has passed and he isn’t yet ready to return to the Watford squad.

“We expected his recovery to be short but the calf is a strange area. We have to wait a little bit longer,” Hornets boss Quique Sanchez Flores said this afternoon.

Cathcart suffered his calf injury prior to the Hornets’ game against Manchester United on Wednesday evening.

He was named on the substitutes’ bench, largely because Watford had no other fit centre-backs available.

“For Cathcart it is the same. He’s had a kick in the calf, it’s a sensitive area,” Flores explained.

“He will probably not be ready for the match either.”

Joel Ekstrand is inching closer to fitness after he suffered a hamstring problem in January following his ten-month lay off due to a knee injury.

But Tommie Hoban is being left frustrated as he attempts to return from injury.

The young centre-back was suffering from pain in his stomach and groin during pre-season and underwent surgery at the start of October to cure the problem.

However, despite playing 45 minutes against Boreham Wood at the end of January, Hoban’s has been hampered by a similar pain and has been unable to train.

“He hasn’t been with us this week,” Flores said. “I hope he is coming soon because I believe in this player.”

That was evident last week when Flores discussed the young centre-back at greater length.

He said: "Hoban is young but he has a lot of qualities. In the next year we will make decisions on him.

“The most important thing is he stays with us and in pre-season we will check on him.

"We will work out what is best for him. That maybe a loan to another team, I don’t know exactly. But he is a player I trust a lot.”