Tuesday 31 October 2017

Eddie's options limited with injuries to Stanislas and Afobe

The defeat against Chelsea was not so demoralising in the scoreline, but it has left Eddie Howe with another headache in terms of personnel that he as available to him. Just when the squad looked to be getting back together in good numbers, Eddie finds that he has lost both Junior Stanislas and Benik Afobe in one game, exactly when AFCB have an important run of fixtures coming up.
Stanislas could well be out for more than a month judging
by the reaction after his injury on Saturday.
The injury to Junior looked fairly serious as he pulled up straight away and had difficulty in walking off the pitch. I can't believe his rotten luck as he is player that, as soon as he gets in the team and has a good match or two, tends to pick up an injury that keeps him out again. He is such an influential player as well and provides the real quality between the midfield and strikers, so it is a big loss in my eyes to not have him available for the next few games.

Benik Afobe also looked like he was not going to find it easy to get back into contention in the way that he got injured against Chelsea. He had also gained some confidence having scored against Brighton and to have started against Chelsea he was finally getting back-to-back games on his card, having also played in the Stoke match from the start. Now he has to concentrate on getting a muscle problem in his left leg fixed. It looked like he was holding an area around his knee and he could be out for a couple of games, just as Callum Wilson and Josh King come back.


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While AFCB have lots of wild players and strikers it still will have an impact in Eddie Howe's choices and with a few defenders already out it does not help the physio staff who have more bodies to try and repair.

The morale of the team needs to be kept high though and hopefully the injured players will still see a lot of their team-mates and keep encouraging others to do well. The reality of the situation though is that AFCB could do with a week or two where they can just concentrate on their football without adding to the knocks they are currently picking up.



AFCB's U21s are currently 2-0 up against Crystal Palace Quigley and Ndjoli have scored - follow on twitter @afcbournemouth

Cherry Chimes' November Newsletter brings you the best stories on the blog and the thoughts behind them from last month. It's out tomorrow with special story - A testing time for Howe and fans.

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