Reading have gone 13 league games at the Madejski Stadium without a league win since beating Wolves on January 27 and have scored a pitiful four goals during that run.
McAnuff - who followed Rodgers from Vicarage Road during the summer - has been sidelined with a back injury but played an hour for the reserves in midweek and should be on the bench against the Hornets.
A third former Watford employee Grzegorz Rasiak will again lead the line as he looks for his first goal for the club while Simon Church and Gylfi Sigurdsson will hope to feature after scoring their first league goals for the Royals at Peterborough last week.
Republic of Ireland international Shane Long remains sidelined with an ankle injury and Chris Armstrong is still recovering from knee surgery.
But club captain Ivar Ingimarsson is now fully fit after nine months out with knee trouble and is pushing for a recall to the starting XI.
Watford boss Malky Mackay will assess the fitness of striker Heidar Helguson ahead of the trip.
Helguson limped off during the 3-3 draw with Leicester last Saturday with a calf injury and had an MRI scan on Wednesday to assess the extent of the problem.
Mackay said: "We're working on Heidar. He's touch and go and we need to see how he reacts to intense physiotherapy.
"He's had knocks and bruises and injuries throughout his career but he's a Viking, he just gets on with it.
"Over the next couple of days there will be a lot of work done on him before we make a decision on Saturday morning."
Nathan Ellington is on standby to replace Helguson but midfielder Scott Severin could remain sidelined with a groin injury.
Sporting Life