Energetic midfielder Don Cowie is set to miss tonight’s game with Southampton due to injury which means one of Watford’s two loan signing’s should make their first start for the club.

Cowie went off with a thigh injury after his goal in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Doncaster and was replaced by new signing Danny Rose.

The Tottenham youngster has recovered from the slight concussion he received late on in his impressive debut and will be pushing for a start, although Brendan Rodgers may opt for Latvian international Aleksandrs Cauna.

Cauna is highly rated by Rodgers but the 21-year-old has been limited to just one substitute appearance against Plymouth Argyle due to the performances of Cowie and Jobi McAnuff.

The left winger played the full 90 minutes in Latvia’s two recent games though, scoring his first goal for his country, and may beat Rose to Cowie’s spot on the left.

Rodgers said: "We have got a full international to come in in the shape of Alex Cauna. He can be part of the squad now with a view to playing on Tuesday. We've got a ready made replacement [for Cowie] who can score internationally and who has been chomping at the bit to come in.”

He added: "This could be the opportunity for him to come and show his qualities; of which he has many. So that gives us that possibility to look at and obviously Danny Rose came in on Saturday and did very well and can play in that position too."

The Watford boss tried to sign Cauna while at Chelsea and he claims tonight could give the Latvian the stage to prove he is worth a long-term deal at Vicarage Road.

Rodgers said: “From my time of seeing him at Chelsea, he was a highly talented young player and now is a great opportunity for him to get a start. As he's a full international player, he comes with big motivation to show us in the next few games that he's worthy of getting a longer term deal here."

Tamas Priskin was the third Hornet to go off on Saturday but the Hungarian should start after recovering from an ankle injury.

Jack Cork should also start against the team he played for during the first half of this season before his move to Vicarage Road.

One player who definitely will not feature is Grzegorz Rasiak as he is ineligible to play against his parent club, although he still hasn’t recovered from his groin injury.

Brendan Rodgers said: “We are hoping that within the next week or so he will start training, looking towards the following weekend and we will get him back on the field before the end of the season.”

Rodgers believes one more win should secure his side’s Championship survival and the omens look good for Watford.

The Hornets have won the last six encounters between the two sides and visitors to Vicarage Road tonight should expect goals as on each occasion, the Golden Boys have scored at least three times.