Jose Holebas has a minor injury concern, Javi Gracia has confirmed.

The left-back was replaced at half-time in Watford’s 2-1 pre-season victory over Brentford on Saturday, less than 24 hours after receiving on-field treatment during the 1-0 defeat of Stevenage.

With a host of first-team players, including Abdoulaye Doucoure, Tom Cleverley, Gerard Deulofeu and Nathaniel Chalobah, all missing pre-season games with fitness issues, Holebas’ early exit added to Gracia’s injury worries.

However, the Spanish head coach feels Holebas only has a minor problem and says taking him out of the action at Griffin Park was a precautionary measure.

Gracia said: “I do not know what happened, He felt pain today after the first half and I thought I’d rather change him [than risk further injury. In this moment, I don’t know, but it is only a little thing.”

Playing twice in the same amount of days is sure to have had a physical impact on the Watford players, and it was a surprise to see Gracia name a near identical squad for both the Boro and Bees games.

The Hornets had been expected to call on a number of Under-23 players at the Lamex Stadium on Friday night and Gracia admitted the back-to-back matches had been tough to manage.

“When we organised these two games we thought we would have more players available but in this moment, with [Alex] Jakubiak from the Under-23s this is all we had,” he said.

“We need players like Roberto Pereyra or Isaac Success to play 90 minutes like Will Hughes did against Stevenage.

“They can do it, but I prefer to play less time for some players. We accumulated work and minutes and will be ready for the first game.”