daniel chigunwe
LONDON. — Watford will be without Ismaila Sarr, Ben Foster and Nicolas Nkoulou for at least a month because of injury.
Senegal winger Sarr has a knee ligament injury which the club say will be scanned again in about a month.
It means he is now a doubt for the 2022 AFCON finals where the Lions of Teranga will open their campaign against the Warriors of Zimbabwe in Cameroon.
The group also features Guinea and Malawi.
The AFCON finals begin on 9 January.
It will be the third time, at the Nations Cup finals, that Zimbabwe and Senegal will meet, in a group game.
They first met at the 2006 Nations Cup finals, in Egypt, with the West Africans winning 2-0.
Then, at the 2017 AFCON finals, in Gabon, the two countries clashed with the Senegalese, again, winning by the same scoreline.
The Hornets added that keeper Foster has been “nursing a groin strain in recent games” and “will be out of action until January”.
Cameroon defender Nkoulou has a hamstring injury which means he is sidelined “until into the new year”.
Sarr went off after 68 minutes of the 4-1 win over Manchester United on 20 November and missed the subsequent 4-2 defeat at Leicester City.
Nkoulou suffered his injury against United and, along with Sarr and Foster, was also out for the defeat by the Foxes.
Watford, who are 16th in the Premier League and four points above the relegation zone, hosted top-flight leaders Chelsea, last night.
Claudio Ranieri’s side then have a home game against Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday. — Sports Reporter/BBC Sport
Online Reporter