Slaven Bilić’s right-back options are bolstered by the return to fitness of Jeremy Ngakia and João Ferreira, who took part in training this week.

The Hornets Head Coach will make a late call on their involvement in Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship clash with Preston North End (March 4, 3pm KO), but is pleased to have the duo available for selection ahead of an important run of fixtures.

“They started to train with us early in the week,” said Bilić, 54. “Their injuries weren’t long but weren’t 10 days. They are maybe not [fit] for this game but they are back, it’s very good to have players back for this stage of the season.”

Samuel Kalu expects to be back with the group in two weeks, stepping up his return from the hamstring injury picked up in early January against Norwich City, and Hassane Kamara awaits results from a scan on the same muscle.

“They are going to scan Hassane today, he feels better than the scans are showing and a lot of it depends on the scan but he is training okay,” added Bilić.

Tom Dele-Bashiru will miss the rest of the 2022/23 season having suffered an ankle injury in training, with Edo Kayembe’s calf problem likely to keep him out of action for the same period.

Francisco Sierralta’s metatarsal injury will see him miss several weeks, but the Chilean defender will be hoping for a return before the campaign’s end. That is less likely than Tom Cleverley’s return, as the club captain seeks to resume training in three to four weeks.