“Unleashing an Unexpected Twist: Watford Boss Shakes Up the Game with a Startling Bench Revelation!”

The forward on loan from Nottingham Forest didn’t travel for the midweek cup replay at Southampton and instead stayed at London Colney to work on his fitness, having only played a handful of minutes in his two outings since returning to Vicarage Road, where he hadn’t played since November.

“No, he’s not ready to start, not at the minute,” said Valerien Ismael.

It’s difficult to say where we are because I don’t know Dennis at his high-performance level from the past, but our physio team knows him better than me.

“He will need some time. We have three games now in a week, so we have to make sure that he comes through the three games very well.”

When he is fit again, would the head coach consider playing him through the middle rather than out wide, given Watford haven’t scored in their last three games?

You need a Dennis who is able to sprint and do it again and again and again,” said Ismael.

“We are flexible with everything, but at the moment, he is not 100%.

“He needs time to make sure we recover the Dennis we want to see, and the one we need to put us in a good position—so we have to put him in a good position to perform.

The feeling will come, and he will be on the pitch, and everyone will say that now this is the Dennis we know.

“When we get to that point, then you can ask me the question again.”

With both Edo Kayembe and Jeremy Ngakia resuming training this week, Ismael has all his senior players back working with him, but neither of those two seem likely to feature tomorrow.

“Everyone is back in training; hopefully it will stay like that now for a long period of time, as we know when we are all available we are better,” Ismael said.

For now, we have different levels of fitness for some players, but clearly, it’s good to see every player back on the training pitch.

“Tomorrow’s game is too early for Kayembe and Ngakia.

“Jeremy will take a few weeks to get back to his level, and it’s about getting his rhythm. You have training rhythm and game rhythm, and they are two completely different things.

“For Edo, he is maybe closer than Jez. We will assess after two or three days and make sure that when he comes back, he is able to help us.”

Goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann’s sudden disappearance from the pitch on Tuesday night caught many people by surprise.

“It was a strange situation,” admitted the Watford boss.

“He came off to make sure nothing happened; it was more precautionary. He had all the tests he had to have, and everything is fine.

“The issue he had is related to his inner ear; he has an ear trauma. It’s nothing with complications, and he will be available tomorrow.”