Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury faces a month on the sidelines with knee ligament damage sustained during Watford's match against Hull City last weekend.

Choudhury, 25, went in for a 50/50 challenge with Hull midfielder Dimitrios Pelkas just five minutes into their first Championship match following the league's pause for the World Cup and both players were left with knee injuries. The Greece international was replaced by Greg Docherty after the incident in the 9th minute, and the City loanee soon followed him off before the quarter of an hour mark.

Hull confirmed yesterday (Thursday, 15 December) that Pelkas will now be out for between 10 and 12 weeks with a knee injury that does not require surgery. Watford are confident of having Choudhury back in half that time, head coach Slaven Bilic confirmed at his press conference on Friday.

“It's not very bad; I expected worse," Bilic told Sky Sports. “It was a very strange challenge. I don't remember the last time when two players didn't touch each other, went for the same ball and got injured in the same area. Apparently, Pelkas is much worse, but with Hamza, we're talking five, maximum, six weeks.

“Hamza's a fighter and a good healer, so it's not that bad. It's not good, of course, to lose our main player to keep the balance of the team now. It's a big blow, but he'll be back. He's a fighter, he really wants to play and wants to help the team, and that's why I like him so much."