Watford midfielder Tom Cleverley is making the most of a bad situation by spending more time with his family, while at home due to the coronavirus outbreak.

All football in the country has been suspended, with some non-league divisions now declared null and void, and the Premier League due to meet next Friday to discuss possible outcomes.

In the meantime, Cleverley is following a fitness programme given to him by the club to keep himself fit, while enjoying a bit more family time than he might usually get.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, he said: “Obviously there’s a lot of uncertainty around everything at the minute but the priority is everyone’s health and everything the government is speaking about.

“As a footballer you just try to keep yourself in as good a shape as possible and try to stick to routines. I’m eating three meals a day at the times I usually would, and I’m training at times I usually would. Obviously, you don’t want to do too much because you don’t know when the return date is going to be, but you’ve got to just keep yourself ticking over and get yourself in shape for when we are asked to return to play.

“The club have done a really good job, to be honest. About 10-12 days ago when it was looking as though this situation could be likely, they delivered equipment to our houses so we could set up home gyms and then they set up programmes for us. It’s been pretty self-explanatory. I do a lot of work on the bike, probably an hour every morning, and then some days I’ll do some strength work or go out for a run. The club have done a really good job to make sure it’s as easy as possible for the players to do the work to keep fit.

“I’ve got two kids under six, so that’s my challenge – to keep them occupied all day. But there’s been some good stuff on social media, not only the fun stuff you see but also some of the donations that top athletes are making. I think it’s good to see everyone rallying round each other at these tough times.

“It’s taken me back to my own childhood really. I set swing ball up in the garden yesterday, I’m teaching one of them to ride his bike and the other one to do his laces. It’s all stuff I wouldn’t usually have the time to do, so I’m cracking on with that.”

Cleverley remains in close contact with his team-mates and staff members from Watford as they all try and keep abreast of any developments. 

The mood within the squad is still one of positivity and the team still firmly believe that, once the season is able to resume, they will have enough to avoid relegation.

“On a daily basis I’m in touch with some of the lads, we have a WhatsApp group – as I’m sure most teams do – and it’s a bit more active than usual," he said.

"I spoke to Craig Shakespeare yesterday and he’s just keeping us in the loop with any information he can give us. Like I say, it’s a really uncertain time but there are other priorities like keeping our families safe and abiding by the rules that are more important than football right now.

“Ever since [Pearson's arrival], we understood what the manager wanted from us. He got us back to basics, but doing those very well, training levels and timekeeping and everything. He’s really got us back to basics and the results have obviously helped everyone gain confidence.

“We’ve got ourselves back in the mix but when the season does restart, we’ve still got a lot of work to do. As a squad we believe we’ve got the players, the attitude and the work ethic to get ourselves out of the situation we’ve found ourselves in. We have to stay confident and work as hard as possible when we get back to it.”