Eddie Howe has revealed that Joe Willock has suffered a ‘setback’ with a new injury while the return of Sven Botman is ‘unknown’ as we head into the international break.
Willock has been recovering from a hamstring issue he picked up at the end of last season and the boss previously suggested he’d return after the international break.
However, Howe revealed after our defeat to Brighton that the midfielder has suffered a separate injury with his Achilles and will now be out for a further ‘six weeks’.
As for Botman, the defender was forced off with an ankle injury in an our 2-1 defeat to Liverpool last week, though it was believed that it was not too serious.
There was even hope that the Dutchman would be available for Brighton, but he ‘didn’t feel too good’ on Friday and heads into the break with an ‘unknown’ return date. Considering the state of our defence on Saturday, let’s hope he’s back for Brentford a week in just under two weeks time.
On Willock’s setback, Howe said: “Unfortunately, Joe has had a bit of a setback. It’s an Achilles injury not related to his hamstring problem. So I think he will be missing for around (another) six weeks We are missing him in terms of his energy.”
On Botman’s return from injury, Howe said: “This is an unknown to be honest. There was hope he might be fit for this game but then he didn’t feel too good yesterday, so he was ruled out. We will see how quickly he improves.”
