Watford manager Slaven Bilic has no intention of resting Ismaila Sarr for Saturday’s Championship encounter with Bristol City with the World Cup on the horizon for the Senegal international.
This weekend’s fixtures are the concluding games before Qatar 2022 and therefore the last chance for players involved in the tournament to sustain injuries which could prevent them from representing their countries.
Several big name players have been ruled out of the World Cup due to injuries suffered in the last few weeks, including Sarr’s international teammate Sadio Mane, and although Bilic acknowledged the risk for the individuals is there, he won’t be leaving his star man out.
Sarr has six goals in 16 games and City fans will uncomfortably recall a meeting with the Hornets in February 2021 when the 24-year-old tore the Robins apart, scoring twice in a 6-0 victory which all-but spelled the end of Dean Holden’s time in charge.
“Why not? I mean, why not?” Bilic told the Watford Observer, when he was asked if he’d considered resting Sarr at Ashton Gate. “Harry Kane will play, Luka Modric will play, the big players will play.
“You don’t want to think negatively. I know the players read, and I read, about the situation with players like James, Walker, Son, Varane, Pogba, Kante.
“My policy is always if you walk on eggs and try to save yourself, then it’s more likely you’ll get injured. We have a game, it’s a very important game for us. I would like to spare him of course, I would love to do it. But he’s a massive player for us.”
With pressure mounting on Nigel Pearson, and a defence that has kept just two clean sheets in the last 11 games since the September international break, the prospect of Sarr lining up for Watford isn’t ideal for City with resources increasingly thin.
Pearson will be without Kal Naismith, Tomas Kalas and suspended full-back George Tanner, with wing-back Kane Wilson a long-term absentee, while Timm Klose was substituted at half-time against Lincoln City after a decidedly shaky opening 45 minutes in a game that was Rob Atkinson's first since missing the previous three games due to illness.
Joe Low was handed his first senior start against the Imps on Tuesday night but endured a difficult evening and was substituted after 45 minutes to protect his confidence. Fielding the 20-year-old against a team of the calibre of Watford seems unlikely, leaving Atkinson, an out-of-form Klose, Zak Vyner and converted full-back Cam Pring as Pearson's only central defensive options.
Watford have been boom or bust under Bilic since he replaced Rob Edwards at the end of September. The Croatian has six wins from his 10 matches in charge with the others all ending in defeat. On Tuesday, they advanced into fifth in the Championship, and six points behind leaders Burnley, with a 2-0 win over Reading with Brazilian starlet Joao Pedro scoring both goals.
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