Edoardo Bove could make his Watford debut at Preston on Saturday after new head coach Ed Still confirmed the Italian will be on the bench.
Bove signed as a free agent in January having not played any football since suffering a cardiac arrest while playing for Fiorentina against Inter Milan in December 2024.
He has been building his fitness levels up at London Colney since, and having trained all week is set to feature as a sub at Deepdale.
A late call will be made on Mattie Pollock after he returned to training following a hamstring injury, while Hector Kyprianou and Rocco Vata are long-term absentees and Nestory Irankunda is suspended.
Still said: "He [Bove] will be on the bench on Saturday.
"I'm really pleased that he will be because he's a top player, he's shown that in Italy.
"He's been out for a very long time and he's chomping at the bit to get going again.
"We just need to channel his energy so that he's good for the team and not just focused on himself but I'm really happy that we can have him on the bench.
"His game time is going to be limited this weekend and probably over the next couple of weeks, but we need to get him up to speed as well in competitive games.
"Mattie Pollock is good, he's had a really good training week. We have to evaluate between now and Saturday if he's fit enough to start because he's really important to us, but we don't want to lose him.
"We need to work that out and have a good think about the training he's done and how we've loaded him physically.
"I had a really good chat with him this morning and he said he was feeling good, but he's a very positive and optimistic guy.
"He wants to be in the starting line-up on Saturday so we'll see. It's a case of how he reacts on Friday and then go from there."
Still is convinced his squad is good enough to finish in the play-offs this season but is aware of the need for a fast start, to convince both supporters and players that it's possible.
The 35-year-old wants his side to play an aggressive, high-tempo style of football to make it happen.
He said: "Everything is going to come down to results and hopefully we can get off to a good start at Preston.
"At this time of the year, with the pitch there, it's going to be one of our hardest games of the season.
"It's a big challenge but from what the squad have shown this week, we're more than good enough to go there and get a good result.
"Let's be aggressive. Let's dominate physically and I want to play forwards quickly. We don't want to be keeping the ball for too long.
"I've watched too many games as a fan, watching centre-backs pass the ball between themselves for 10 minutes and then to the full-back, back to the keeper, and so on. It's not my thing.
"We want to be playing forwards, playing with pace.
"It may take a few games to see all of it. It's one of them where you need a little bit of time but you haven't got much, which is why these days have been so important. The time in the video meeting rooms has been important as well, but we can get that message across to players of what we want.
"If we're clear enough on the training pitch, hopefully we can see the first signs of that on Saturday."
Two players who have had limited minutes recently are Kwadwo Baah and Irankunda, neither of whom have started a match since November.
Irankunda is suspended for Saturday's game but Baah is available, his pace set to be a huge asset.
Still said: "We need to pick the best team for Preston, so we need pace in the team, definitely.
"We also need power, we need players who are smart enough to pick up the second balls in midfield and be able to play on the half-turn and play forwards quickly.
"Those are the criteria for the team on Saturday.
"Baah has been fantastic in training. Irankunda unfortunately is suspended but he's been brilliant, electric.
"It's a treat for a coach to have profiles like that because they're the hardest to find.
"Hopefully they feel like they're going to get an opportunity and once it's given to them, it's for them to take it. If they do that then selection becomes really easy.
"We've had 22 players training over the last couple of days, which I think is going to be pretty much our full squad. It's a good size, it's not too big, but it does force us to have to make some tough decisions every weekend.
"We've got lots of midweek games coming up and the one thing I was really clear about is that we're going to pick a team that is 100% fit, fresh and sharp.
"We can transfer all of our energy onto the pitch that way. If a player is maybe not 100% or a little bit tired, no problem, we've got enough players and we'll go with those who are fully fit and sharp."
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