A month-long World Cup break and then eight days between the win at Huddersfield and Monday’s game with Millwall means Slaven Bilic and his Watford squad have had a rare treat in terms of time on the training pitch.

However, a few of the squad have had to miss training across the week as a bug has swept through the changing room.

“It’s been good as we played on Sunday and then the next game is on Boxing Day, which is on Monday, so we’ve had more than a week to prepare,” said Bilic.

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“That’s always a good situation to have when it comes after a win, because you have a good platform on which to do different things in training and to do a bit more.

“There has been a bit of a bug or a virus floating around, and a couple of players didn’t train for the last few days. It hasn’t always been the same players that didn’t train, it has moved around.

“Other than that, we had some players who felt minor things after the game on Saturday but that is always the case.

“There is nothing major and the squad for Monday should be the same as it was for Huddersfield.”

Bilic was clearly in buoyant mood, and said he was feeling very positive.

“I’m not going to hide it: I’m really pleased with the situation we are in now. We have a few injuries still, but even there things are improving and a couple of them will be back in a few weeks’ time.

“I’m happy with the way we’ve been training, I’m happy with the level of concentration, I’m happy with the focus. I am really happy about how the team is at the moment.

“The key thing, though, is to transmit that onto the pitch and get a result like we did at Huddersfield.”

The main complaint from the win at Huddersfield was that the Hornets didn’t take enough of the chances they created, meaning they couldn’t feel comfortable until the second goal arrived five minutes from time.

“With the quality we have, we should be scoring more goals. I said that after the game at Huddersfield, and it wasn’t the first time I have had to say that,” Bilic admitted.

“Sometimes the issue is finishing, sometimes it’s the last touch, sometimes it’s the choice the players made in the final third.

“As a coach, sometimes it is better to be unhappy that you have scored two but not taken many other chances, than to be winning 1-0 when you have squeezed a goal out of nowhere. Then it’s maybe luck or a moment of individual quality that wins the game.

“We are creating more than enough opportunities in games, and with the quality that we have up front we should be turning opportunities into 100% clear-cut chances, and goals.”