Monday 25 January 2016

AFCB fans await news on Junior Stanislas

There was a heart sinking moment when Junior Stanislas went down at the end of the Sunderland game. Not another bad injury, I thought. AFCB have had their bad luck in that respect and while the teams is quite strong in available wingers, it is not an injury that Eddie Howe will have been pleased about.
Junior will be assessed this week on his injury.
Junior again was having a strong game and I did wonder if he was going to be protected in the last part of the game by putting on some fresh legs. The AFCB winger stayed out though and the foul he was on the end of from Billy Jones was perhaps a tiered late challenge, but still not something any fan wants to see. Hopefully, Junior will make a speedy recovery with the treatment baths now at the club, and while most of these kind of injuries do not usually need an operation, AFCB don't want to see Junior out for long.

Having created the goal for Benik Afobe, Junior will have been pleased with what he did personally in the game at Sunderland. He has had a bit of a quiet period himself in front of goal but his switch to the right wing had been an interesting development for the team and had given Matt Ritchie an opportunity to be rested.

Now it looks like Junior will have some time out. The initial diagnosis given by Eddie Howe was that the medial ligament has been 'tweaked' and the way Junior hobbled of the pitch it is just as well that it is an FA Cup match next weekend. If he is out for more than a month that would be really bad luck, but I hope it is not that bad and only a strain.

It does of course mean an opportunity for Juan Iturbe or if Tommy Elphick is ready to come back we may see Adam Smith moved out of the back four. Eddie has some decisions to make regarding team selection, but I am hoping that Grabban is not played wide as I don't see him having so much impact there. Clearly Pugh and Ritchie are the number one choices but some cover will be needed on the wings.

Listen in to feedback from Saturday's game against Sunderland by visiting All Departments' podcast.

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