Watford's head coach Gianfranco Zola confirmed five of the club's new signings missed yesterday's game due to fitness issues.
Manuel Almunia and Daniel Pudil started the game but Fitz Hall, Almen Abdi, Ikechi Anya, Matej Vydra and Steve Leo Beleck were all left out of the 22-man squad to face Tottenham Hotspur.
Hall and Vydra have yet to feature during pre-season but Abdi had played in all of three previous matches, Anya featured twice and Leo Beleck once.
Most of the squad who did not feature against Spurs yesterday due to injury problems, including the likes of Anya, Abdi and Hall, were at Vicarage Road .
Almen Abdi and Steve Leo Beleck watch on from the dugout.
And Zola confirmed: "They didn't play because they had picked up little things and it is only one week before the season starts and we don’t want to risk anything, so we decided to rest them."
Left back Pudil was one of two new signings who started against Spurs but the Czech international came off after just five minutes with what looked like a hamstring injury.
But speaking after the game, Zola said: "No he just had cramp, nothing more than that. He had a bad injury a year ago and we didn’t want to take any risks. We are at a stage where we cannot risk any long-term injuries."
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