Claudio Ranieri admitted Watford have had just one full training session since they lost 2-1 at Brentford, with Covid-19 heavily affecting his side since.

That game took place on December 10, but positive cases have prevented the Hornets from playing or training properly since.

Ahead of tomorrow's game against West Ham United, the head coach said he was not sure how ready his team were, with Under 23s expected to be required to plug some gaps in the coming weeks.

The Italian said he was also concerned about the potential for injuries, with his players lacking the preparation he would like them to have before a match.

"Unfortunately, only today arrived all my players together and that’s very very important," said Ranieri. "It’s a big moment because the players can’t train properly and I hope nobody will suffer some injuries. When they don’t train it’s very difficulty to play but that’s it.

"They are like a Formula 1 car and when you don’t make any training sessions, it’s difficult and I hope, I cross my fingers, that nobody has some injuries.

"It's difficult to say if we are ready 100 per cent. When you meet your players for one training session, it's very difficult to do this.

"Of course have to play - we are strong, we want to make a very good match and try to get points. That's our philosophy and I won't change this philosophy.

"There are some players who didn’t make some training sessions and it's difficult to do this. I think these players don’t have 90 minutes.

"I will bring with me some under 23 players and I will see what happens."

As a possible solution to avoid injuries and reduce the demands on players, Ranieri said that he would be in favour of teams having five substitutes per game instead of three.

"In Italy I was first to speak about five changes because they're very important to not push too much the fitness of the players," he said.

"If they don’t train, then have to play...How is it possible to keep them on the pitch and only change three players? It's very difficult for them and I just cross my fingers that nobody has an injury. Five changes could be the right solution.

"I know the rules must change for everybody, I don’t know when but this is an advantage for the players. We must think about the players, not about a single situation."

Some positive news for the head coach is that, provided they are not among the players still isolating, he will have all four of his AFCON-bound players available for tomorrow's game and the match against Tottenham on New Year's Day.

"They will stay with us until Tottenham, all four," Ranieri confirmed, with Emmanuel Dennis, William Troost-Ekong, Adam Masina and Imran Louza all selected for their squads.

Ismaila Sarr was also called up, but is not expected to make the journey to Cameroon due to his long-term knee problem.