Watford could welcome back Almen Abdi, Fernando Forestieri and Juan Carlos Paredes for Saturday’s clash against Blackburn Rovers.

Forestieri hasn’t featured for the Hornets since the FA Cup defeat to Chelsea on January 4 whilst Abdi has been absent for almost a month.

But both players have returned from their respective hamstring injuries and began training with the first team this week. Their fitness will be assessed tomorrow (Friday).

Paredes missed the defeat at Bournemouth last Friday due to illness but he has since recovered and is available for selection.

Joel Ekstrand returned to training today after two months out with a lower back problem. However, the defender will not feature against Rovers and Sean Murray will also miss out as he recovers from knee surgery.

Watford have scored 12 goals in their last two matches at Vicarage Road whilst Blackburn have struggled in recent weeks.

Rovers have won just two of their last ten league games and have not claimed three points away from Ewood Park since the end of October.

However, Golden Boys boss Slavisa Jokanovic is wary of the physical threat Gary Bowyer’s side will pose and says the Hornets must not fall into the trap of trying to match their opponents’ game plan.

He said: “I expect Blackburn to be very hard, very tough and a physical team. We have not played well against teams like this in the past.

“We must have learnt from this and try and play our way. We must play football and play on the floor.

“We can’t play how Blackburn play because then we will be in trouble. It is now in my hands and in the heads and the feet of my players. It is up to them to resolve the situation when we play against physical teams.”

The Hornets follow up tomorrow’s game with Blackburn with a trip to Brentford on Tuesday.

Jokanovic acknowleged both are important matches in the bid to secure automatic promotion but stressed: “Nothing will be decided in two games, there are many points to fight for.

“We had a negative result against Bournemouth but hopefully now we can have a positive run of results. I believe my team is better mentally, physically and at all the other levels.”