Claudio Ranieri is buoyed by Watford's extra preparation time ahead of their game against Norwich City, but has pleaded with the Premier League to use common sense when rescheduling postponed fixtures.

The Hornets were due to be going into Friday night's clash with the Canaries on the back of an away trip to Burnley on Tuesday night, but the Clarets' Covid and injury situation meant they were unable to field a full team and the match was subsequently called off for a second occasion.

This has given Ranieri extra time to work on a gameplan for Norwich, who he is expecting to be brimming with confidence, and means the Italian has had longer bedding in the three new arrivals, Hassane Kamara, Edo Kayemebe and Samir, all of whom made their debuts at St James' Park last weekend.

"After the first match I didn’t know what could happen with them and then I was ready to change," said Ranieri.

"For the first time, they came with us and I didn’t know if they can play 90 minutes. Of course after the first match, they trained very well during the week and they recovered very well.

"They’re ready, I hope, to show the same performance, the same strength and the same quality.

"Of course, Norwich won against Everton and now they are full of confidence, but also we are full of confidence after we drew in the last minute against Newcastle."

That game against Burnley will have to be reorganised for a later date and Ranieri has requested it be moved to a day during the upcoming break in play, that will see Watford have no matches between January 22 and February 8, in order to limit the impact it will have on his schedule.

"I’m not so frustrated because when you have to play every two or three days it's not so good," he said.

"Now I hope when we play against Burnley we will have some days more to recover for another match.

"I don’t know if we could play the 5th (of February) because after we will play on the 8th, it could be a little crazy. We have a week free and we can maybe play a little earlier.

"I hope in two weeks we also play this match against Burnley, but not the 5th of February, a little earlier."

Looking ahead to Norwich, Ranieri wants to see his side play with quality from the very beginning of the match, with his players guilty of all-too-often waiting to go behind before they show urgency in attack.

He understands why they may be anxious going into matches, but hopes they can grow in confidence after their important point away at Newcastle.

"I think, during training sessions every day, confidence is very high, but when you play, you are a little more anxious, especially when the result doesn’t arrive. Slowly you lose a little confidence but I push behind the team and in my opinion, I told them and everybody, I have a very good team."

Despite their obvious talents, Ranieri's side are still yet to keep a clean sheet in the league this season.

However, the head coach said that does not matter to him as much as getting points on the board.

"If we win, a clean sheet can wait," he said. "It’s not important, now we need points. So if we score one goal more than our opponent, it’s okay."