There is no positive news on the injury front for Watford, with Gerard Deulofeu, Nathaniel Chalobah, Tom Cleverley and Stefano Okaka all ruled out for this weekend’s game against Burnley.

Deulofeu, Okaka and Chalobah did not play a minute for the Hornets during pre-season, while Cleverley is expected to be out until autumn after having surgery on an achilles injury over the summer.

Head coach Javi Gracia is hopeful that the Golden Boys will have better news on the injured quartet next week, although he did provide more of an update on Chalobah, who has been training with the squad for the last two weeks.

Gracia said: “We have no news about injuries this week because the players were injured last week, they are still injured and no players have recovered for this game. Deulofeu, Chalobah, Tom Cleverley, Okaka are injured and we are waiting for next week.

“Now, he (Chalobah) is training with the team for the last two weeks. I think he needs time because in my opinion, he needs more time to improve his condition.

“It’s true he went with England last summer but when he came back after the summer, he wasn’t feeling comfortable and he needed to work out of the team in the beginning. After that, he came with the rest of the team. Now he is in a good way but he needs time.”

Abdoulaye Doucoure handed the Golden Boys a much needed boost last week when he played the full 90 minutes against Brighton and Hove Albion, despite missing most of pre-season with appendicitis.

The Frenchman has proven himself to be a key player for the Hornets, winning the club’s Player-of-the-Season award last campaign for his impressive performances, and Gracia confirmed that the 25-year-old came through last week’s game against Brighton unscathed.

Gracia said: “He’s perfect. He can show all his qualities despite not training only the last week for five training sessions. He had a good performance and helped the team in a position in that moment. We didn’t have many solutions.”