FIT CHAL SHALL BE A FORCE

NATHANIEL CHALOBAH has been backed to return stronger from his injury nightmare and force his way back into Gareth Southgate plans.

The England boss is a big fan of the Watford midfielder.

He wasted no time in promoting Chalobah, who he worked with during his time in charge of the Under-21s, at the start of last season before injury struck.

Chalobah, 23, suffered a fractured kneecap in a freak training ground injury to end any hope of a World Cup call.

Despite a brief substitute appearance at the end of last season, Watford have been handling Chalobah (below) with kid gloves.

But almost a year to the day, Chalobah is back fit and in contention to feature against Tottenham today after emerging unscathed from his Carabao Cup outing against Reading in midweek.

“We have been waiting for Nathaniel for a long period to come back from his injury,” said Watford boss Javi Gracia.

“He is a creative midfielder and I am sure he will help us this season. And he is a quality player in a position where we do not have many options.

“But at this moment, the most important thing is for him to recover his best condition. “After a bad injury, you need time to recover physically and mentally.

“I think the only way to really recover is to play and train so you can get back to your best condition.

“He is at that level now where he is playing and training hard and trying to get into the team.

“In the future we will see the best of him again.”

Gracia also thinks Southgate should be making a trip to Vicarage Road to cast an eye on his crop of English talent.

He said: “We also have Will Hughes and many other English players coming through.

“For example, Ben Wilmot will be in the England Under-20s.”