AFCB need Dan Gosling back in central midfield

The sorry sight of seeing Jack Wilshere leave N17 on crutches last Saturday has surely put Eddie Howe on alert as to whether Dan Gosling can have a good week of training and get himself into a position to play in one of the most important games of the season. It seems a strange call for Dan to suddenly be so crucial for AFCB's hopes, but Eddie Howe has always thought highly of the midfielder who has been a better player than he is often credit for.

Lewis Cook and Dan Gosling will be under selection scrutiny
to see who is best ready to pair up with Harry Arter in central midfield. 

I already hear the shouts from the stands that it should be Lewis Cook that gets game time in Dean Court's mouth-watering tie against Middlesbrough this weekend. Yet, it is Dan who has played the most football in the last few months and who offers the best hope of guiding the the central midfield area to a satisfying performance. He has a calmer head than most and is quite happy to put his foot in and win the ball, giving it simply to a team-mate. What we still wait to hear though is whether he has recovered fully from his recent knee injury.

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I didn't want Jack Wilshere to pick up an injury and certainly am disappointed that we won't see him in AFCB colours again this season, but after his performance at Spurs I'm beginning to believe it could be a change that needed to be made and might not have happened if Jack had made it through the 90 minutes. Let's hope for a speedy recovery for him - he's had rotten luck and he has been a big help to AFCB this season. Against Middlesbrough, AFCB will have more possession and it will be what they do with it that matters - in such situations going forward Gosling can force his way through into goal scoring positions. Jack has not scored all season and to be honest he hasn't look like scoring.

Whether Eddie Howe yet trusts Lewis Cook as much as Dan Gosling is hard to tell, but I see Gosling as the senior player and it's experience that Howe should go for in a game like this. 

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