O'Kane is not one Eddie will want to lose

I was not aware why Eunan O'Kane suddenly was found bent over double at the end of the first half on Saturday. Eddie Howe pointed towards him getting a knee in the hip area. Whatever happened Eunan was unable to recover and he could not even make it to half time.

Eunan doesn't often go down so I hope he is back in training this week.

Burnley were certainly a physical side. Their players are stocky and robust and in comparison the sleek and light-footed nature of Bournemouth's players did not bounce off quite as well from the challenges that were going in. the slowness of the pitch probably did not help matters as usually AFCB's players could use the speed and hardness of the pitch to their advantage with swift passing to get away. Still AFB's battle hardened players stood up the competition and played extremely well against such tactics.

Euanan O'Kane will hopefully be back for the Derby game.

What must Eddie Howe be thinking though? Eunan O'Kane has been central to his plans since early December and he will not want to lose him with a tough away game coming up against Derby County next weekend. While Shaun MacDonald came on to replace him it will take Shaun a while to get up to the kind of performance levels that Eunan was providing. It just may be that Eddie will have the services of O'Kane back in time even if he only does light training this week. We have seen that Eunan often recovers much quicker than other players and it would not surprise me if he is in the starting kine up at Derby.

I still like to see Richard Hughes play in the defensive midfield role and he can certainly add some stability in front of the back four in such a difficult game at Derby if Eunan is not back in time. In what will be a passing game Eddie could do worse that to think about bringing Hughes back for this game. It does seem though that Richard is making way for the likes of Eunan and Shaun having not made very many appearances at all in the Championship.

Shaun MacDonald was not happy with the goal
 that Burnley scored but will he get another chance against Derby?