'Told me he was going to miss game vs Arsenal' - Eguavoen reveals chat with injured Watford star

Nigeria's interim manager Augustine Eguavoen is keeping his fingers crossed over the availability of Watford center-back William Troost-Ekong for the national team's upcoming 2022 World Cup playoff matches with regional rivals Ghana later this month.

Hornets boss Roy Hodgson confirmed at the pre-match press conference before the visit of Arsenal that the Super Eagles assistant captain could face a maximum of four weeks on the sidelines due to a muscle strain, effectively ruling him out of the back-to-back matches with the Black Stars.

At the same time, the experienced English football tactician revealed that the best case scenario would see Troost-Ekong return to action for the clash against Southampton, having stated that the injury could prevent him from playing for only one week.

Eguavoen was in touch with Troost-Ekong last Friday and the central defender claimed that the injury was not as bad as we were led to believe.

Allnigeriasoccer.com contacted the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations-winning fullback on Tuesday afternoon to provide an update on Troost-Ekong's injury.

Eguavoen told allnigeriasoccer.com : "We will find out. I spoke with Troost-Ekong some three days ago and he's going to have a look at it and then I'll call him again tomorrow to determine the extent of the injury.

"Three days ago he told me it isn't that bad so let us not push the panic button.

"He told me he was going to miss the Arsenal game, I said I'll speak with him after the Arsenal game, I have not done that yet. I will speak with him tonight or tomorrow."

Troost-Ekong is certainly lacking match fitness ahead of the 2022 World Cup playoff as he hasn't played a single game for the Hornets since his return to Hertfordshire from Africa Cup of Nations duty at the back end of January.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel