Eddie Howe has been speaking to the media this morning ahead of tomorrow’s Carabao Cup clash with Spurs at St James’ Park.
There is good and ‘bad’ news on the fitness front, with the boss offering updates on Sven Botman, Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento and Yoane Wissa.
Botman is a doubt after requiring staples in his head from Saturday’s collision with Sasa Lukic, which caused a “bad cut”. He hasn’t suffered a concussion but didn’t train yesterday and will be assessed by staff over the next 24 hours.
Tomorrow will come too soon for Hall, who is back in sessions but not able to return from a hamstring issue just yet, with Howe suggesting Sunday’s trip to West Ham is a more likely comeback game.
Livramento is expected back after the international break, meaning he is targeting our home clash with Man City on 22nd November.
As for Wissa, the striker is still targeting early to mid November, with games against Athletic Bilbao (5th) and Brentford (9th) a possibility, if not our home clash with Man City on the 22nd.
Discussing the above, Howe said:
“Sven has no concussion, it was a cut, a bad cut, which he had stapled together. He didn’t train yesterday, but we will see how he is today.
“Lewis is the closest to coming back out of those injured, but this game will come too quickly for him.
“Tino is still on track, we are looking at the Manchester City game for him for when he can be available for.”
With this in mind, it would be no surprise if Howe gives Botman the night off, allowing Fabian Schar to come into the centre of our defence.
Sandro Tonali is likely to return to the side after starting on the bench after a bug last week, with Jacob Ramsey, Harvey Barnes, Anthony Elanga and Will Osula also pushing to play.
