Eddie Howe has been speaking to the media this morning, offering an update on the fitness front ahead of tomorrow’s 12.30pm kick-off at home to Arsenal.
The boss confirms that Callum Wilson will miss out again and feels it “makes sense” to give him until the upcoming international break to recover, meaning he’ll also sit out of next Sunday’s trip to Nottingham Forest. Elsewhere, it’s unclear if Jacob Murphy will be fit to return after a ‘slight hamstring issue’ kept him out of Wednesday’s game.
Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak “both feel OK” and should be fine, but Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles remain out, with Howe facing a selection dilemma based on freshness and fatigue as we approach our third game in a week after back-to-back clashes with Chelsea in league and cup.
“It was good to see so many players performing. A lot of players that came in did themselves no harm at all. It was good to be able to rotate some of the the squad to see the strength and depth that we have in certain positions.
“I think three games in six days for us is a challenge, especially with an early kick-off again. So we’re gonna have to see how the players are physically pick the team according to physical well-being.
The likes of Hall, Schar, Tonali, Isak and Joelinton all started in our last two games, so it’ll be interesting to see if any of these are managed in tomorrow’s early kick-off.
Callum Wilson how has another hat-trick to add to his statistics – that’s now three consecutive international breaks he will supposedly be fit after.
The guy is an absolute joke. Personally I think he’s lost his nerve and is frightened to play.
He has now officially changed his name to Callum “after the international break” Wilson and has left his wife to take up with Emma Raducanu.
The Panther(Quote)
Maybe Emma is to blame for draining him.
International Break(Quote)