The thigh injury that saw Tom Cleverley drop out of Tuesday’s game at Burnley in the warm-up will probably rule the midfielder out for two months.

Head coach Slaven Bilic was clearly dejected as he spoke to the media about the former England international, who had just made his comeback the Saturday before after six months out following surgery on an Achilles’ problem.

“He felt a pop in his thigh in the warm-up on Tuesday and although it’s not a major injury that requires surgery, it’s also not something he’ll be back from in a couple of weeks," he said.

“The medical team are talking about eight weeks, which is a big blow for us and also for him. Knowing Tom as I do, he’s a very strong character and he’ll be back.”

While seeing Cleverley sidelined again is a setback, his pre-match departure at Turf Moor meant Ken Sema started the game and he came through almost 70 minutes without a problem as well as an assist for Joao Pedro’s goal.

“It was planned for Ken to play 30 or 45 minutes on Tuesday,” Bilic explained.

“He had shown when he came on against Blackburn that he was able to handle the demands and the intensity.

“We knew he could handle more than 45 minutes if we needed him to, and because he can cover a variety of positions that is very useful to us.

“Then when I heard Tom had got injured in the warm-up, Ken came in and we didn’t have to change the system.

“I’m treating Ken now as a fit player. He has a green tick by his name. There are no question marks. The reason we took him off on Tuesday was because he couldn’t at that point manage the full 90 minutes.”

Bilic had said previously that he always had the West Brom earmarked for Imran Louza to make his first start since October, and following a 15-minute appearance from the bench on Tuesday that is still on track.

“The plan with Imran has been for him to start the game against West Brom. For him to do that, we needed him to break the ice and play some minutes against Blackburn, and then some more minutes against Burnley.

“He’s done that and now we will see how he reacts in the next couple of days in training after playing in those two games.

“Hopefully, though, he will be fit to start the game on Monday. We need those injured players back and get them into their top form. Playing is the only way. They can’t do a lot more in the gym or on the training pitch.”

The Watford boss admitted that with players returning, a thicker squad and options in nearly every position, there are now no hiding places and the current run of five games without a win must come to an end.

“We want our players fit and playing, and to be in a position where if we replace them it’s because we want to and not because medially or from a fitness perspective we have to.

“You need your best players on the pitch at the end of the game, but you also want them there from the first whistle.

“It’s all about being able to pick your best players, to have stability, not needing to change the system or the personnel week in, week out.

“That’s what we’ve had to do, and we have been doing ok. We haven’t dropped out of contention, we are doing ok.

“But ok isn’t good enough now. We have to be doing great if we want to finish in the top six.”