Watford boss Javi Gracia confirms Abdoulaye Doucoure injury as reason for absence

Javi Gracia was quick to confirm Abdoulaye Doucoure's absence from Watford's goalless draw with Burnley was due to an injury and nothing to do with reports linking the midfielder away from Vicarage Road.

Doucoure was not in the squad for Saturday's 0-0 draw after suffering a knee injury in training and Gracia said after the game he expects the Frenchman back next week.

• Match report
• As it happened

"No doubt about that," he told Sky Sports. "He felt something in the last training session and he wasn't available, but I'm sure in two or three days he will be ready."

Watford failed to build on a positive start against Burnley, with two early chances squandered before the Clarets took control of the game, but Gracia was pleased with the effort of his side.

"We knew it would be a very demanding game and it was," he added. "We started well, created the first clear-cut chance but didn't take it and after that the game was very close with a lot of challenges for second balls.

"When you can't win one point is positive."

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Gracia had a simple answer for why his side were not at their fluent best.

"Because you don't play alone," he said. "You play with another team and sometimes you don't find the best way to play.

"Maybe today we didn't play our best game but there are many positives today. We defended well against set pieces against a very strong team. Physically we did well. We try to do better next time."

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