Ahead of our trip to Brentford, Eddie Howe praised the ‘integral’ Allan Saint-Maximin, gave an update on his selection dilemma and insisted Saturday’s game will be a completely different test to our 5-1 win at West Ham.
Saint-Maximin has come under a lot of criticism this season, but the winger has been back to his best as of late and Howe had nothing but praise for his ‘focus’, performance levels in training and improvement within the team structure.
With Joe Willock nursing a slight knock and Alexander Isak rested, Howe admitted he hasn’t yet decided who he’ll select at Brentford, with Joelinton and Callum Wilson both bagging braces on their return to the side on Wednesday., That said, the boss insists that both Wilson and Isak can play together in the same side, hoping the increased ‘competition’ will ‘drive both players’.
Matt Targett has struggled to work his way back into the team after an impressive season from our current back four with Howe admitting he is a ‘victim of the team’s success’ and that he would ‘not want to rotate’, suggesting there’ll be few changes to the back four tomorrow.
Although it was a convincing win on Wednesday, Howe is preparing for a ‘completely different’ game against a ‘strong’ Brentford side. Watch his full pre-match press conference below:
