Speaking to the press this morning, Eddie Howe accepted “we are going to have to rotate the squad” for Sunday’s trip to Sheffield United.
He insisted that “wholesale changes” will be avoided, “if we can help it”, as he doesn’t want to disrupts the “rhythm” of his team, but hopes small tweaks can “keep everyone fresh” during this busy run of fixtures.
Keeping in mind injuries, Tuesday’s trip to Italy, recent line-ups and Howe’s latest comments, I think we’ll see Miguel Almiron, Harvey Barnes, Callum Wilson and Elliot Anderson return to the side this weekend.
Starting with Miggy, he feels like an obvious one. He was rested against Brentford following his late return from international duty – where he suffered bad cramp with Paraguay – then lost his place to Jacob Murphy in Milan. He’ll be fresh and eager to get back amongst the goals after reaching double figures last season.
Then to Harvey Barnes, who grew into the game against Brentford and appeared from the bench in Milan. He has the quality to break down what’s likely to be a low block from Sheffield United and only featured for the final few minutes at the San Siro. Anthony Gordon has started all six of our games this season and looked like a player in need of a rest on Tuesday, so I can see Barnes replacing him down our left.
Up top, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Howe started both Isak and Wilson at Bramall Lane. However, the Swede struggled in midweek and is nursing a knee problem, which was briefly mentioned as a niggling issue in Friday’s press conference. He’s not been ruled out of the game, but I fully expect Wilson to come back into the side, as his quality in and around the box proved to be the different in our last Premier League outing, taking his tally for the season up to three games in 186 minutes.
Last but not least, Howe revealed earlier today that Sandro Tonali has trained ONCE over the past month, mentioning how injuries and the international break has impacted his preparation for games. He was a little subdued on Tuesday and, in hindsight, may not have been fully fit? Ideally, he’d play on Sunday and could help break down what’s been a fairly stubborn Blades defence so far, but I think we’ll see Elliot Anderson return to the side on the left of a midfield three.
At full-back, there’s justified calls for Tino Livramento or Lewis Hall to play, I just don’t think Howe will alter with a defence that’s just banked back-to-back clean sheets. After our 3-1 defeat at Brighton, we’d kept just two in our previous 22 games, so I think we’ll see the same back five and rotation at the back for next week’s Carabao Cup clash with Man City.
Possible XI: Pope – Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn – Longstaff, Bruno, Anderson – Almiron, Wilson, Barnes.
