TROY Deeney is among a group of Watford players who will not be in the squad to face Oxford United tonight.

The sides meet at the Kassam Stadium in the Carabao Cup second round, with the winners away to Cambridge United or Newport County in the last 32.

Watford have had an extra day's rest than their opponents, having started their Sky Bet Championship campaign with a 1-0 home win over Middlesbrough on Friday night.

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But like U's boss Karl Robinson, Hornets coach Vladimir Ivic intends to make a host of changes as he looks to manage a busy schedule after a short break between campaigns.

He said: "Some of them (the unavailable players) will be with us for the next game and some of the players who played the last game will be out.

"We will not be complete, but this is the reality and we need to take care of them because pre-season was not as long as we would like it to be.

“Some of them are not ready to play three games a week, so we need to protect them and give the chance to some other guys who will be ready for this game.”

Skipper Deeney missed the Middlesbrough game with a knock and is still not back in training, which is the same situation with Gerard Deulofeu.

Craig Dawson is thought to be ruled out with an illness, while Daryl Janmaat, Isaac Success, Troy Deeney, Andre Gray, Will Hughes and Adam Masina are still sidelined.

Etienne Capoue, Roberto Pereyra and Danny Welbeck are also not yet fit.