Skipper Howard has a knee knock, Odejayi a sore ankle and Souza a facial cut.

Manager Simon Davey hopes that all three will be fit for the Turf Moor trip.

Davey was also keeping in touch with the transfer market today, the final loan-deadline day of the season.

He confirmed: "Brian hasn't really trained properly this week; Dennis hasn't trained, and Kayode's ankle is still sore. Hopefully they'll come through."

Like many managers, Davey was making and receiving phone calls about players: he was not expecting to make a signing before the 5pm deadline but said there could be an outgoing deal involving someone not in the first-team squad.

Jamal Campbell-Ryce is back in the frame for Saturday after recovering from the illness that kept him out of the Sheffield United game and Jamaica's 2-2 draw with Trinidad and Tobago yesterday.

Lewin Nyatanga played a full game in Wales's 2-0 win in Luxembourg, where Daniel Nardiello went on as an 84th minute sub for Jason Koumas.

The Reds' away game against Watford has been switched from April 8 - two days after the FA Cup semi-final - to Wednesday, April 9 (7.45pm).

Davey explained: "We're staying down on Friday and Saturday before the semi-final, and on Sunday night - if we had played on the Tuesday there would have been too little rest before the Watford game."

The reserves beat Hull 2-1 at home yesterday.

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Meanwhile, Leighton James, the ex-Swansea City and Wales forward, has been dumped from his job as a pundit with BBC Wales for the foreseeable future after saying that he hoped Cardiff City would lose their FA Cup semi-final against Barnsley a week on Sunday.

James, who played 88 times for Swansea in a career that included spells with Burnley, Derby County and Queens Park Rangers, made it plain in his column in a newspaper that he retains his loyalty to "his" Welsh club.

"To see Cardiff in the final would be hard to take for Swansea fans," he wrote. "So, to be brutally honest, I think I'm behind Barnsley on this one."

The semi is to be BBC's last broadcast of an FA Cup semi-final before handing over the rights to Setanta and ITV.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "By mutual agreement, Leighton James will not be participating in any BBC Wales programmes for the foreseeable future."

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