Cristian Battocchio has been taken to hospital to have a knee injury assessed after he was stretchered off during the first half of Watford’s 1-1 draw with Burnley this afternoon.

The Hornets midfielder sustained the injury in a collision with Ben Mee and play continued for a couple of minutes before refree Stuart Attwell allowed Battocchio to receive treatment.

Early news of the injury was revealed when Beppe Sannino was asked to comment on the performance of the referee, who was in charge of his first game at Vicarage Road since the infamous ‘ghost goal’ incident against Reading in 2008.

“I don’t like to speak about referees,” the Hornets head coach responded. “In the past I never did and I don’t want to speak today. What is a shame is that after the collision the ball was still in play so this was delaying the the time to assess Battocchio and at the moment Battocchio doesn’t look well.”

Watford’s head of medical Marco Cesarini explained: “The injury is a knee injury but we are assessing him. He’s in the hospital now and straight after this press conference we will see him.”

Burnley boss Sean Dyche was also asked about Attwell and the former Watford boss said: "I was here when the moment happened and it's a tough one. But he has to come back here at some point. In lieu of that, it's always going to be awkward. But generally...interesting.

"I was a little bit aggreived at our goal. I haven't seen it, I must say, the offside goal. It looks from when I was watching the game, I was surprised that it was given."