Will Howe go with three central midfielders against Cardiff?

The teams have been rather mixed up of late as Bournemouth have churned out their run of summer fixtures. The choice of central midfielders has been made more of a headache for Howe by the failed attempts to bring Jefferson Lerma in. To me, Bournemouth have looked light in the centre of the park all summer, and it may be that with three at the back Howe could play three central midfielders to give a bit more solidity to a Bournemouth side that have been leaking goals.

Surman is still Mr consistent.

Which three players you might ask? Well, Eddie Howe has kept faith with Andrew Surman and he is still seen as the calming influence and I'd expect Surman to be in line for a start on Saturday no matter what. Lewis Cook has been industrious and his confidence remains high, so with him Eddie is just trying to get a bit more out of him in games. The other central midfield place would arguably go to Dan Gosling, who is the professional who just goes about his job. Gosling doesn't have many poor games but keeps his work rate high and brings others into the game well while popping up himself with the odd goal.

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Before the news yesterday that Harry Arter would be playing for Cardiff City this season, I didn't see him breaking into the starting line up on recent performances. He has been making the odd mistake and Bournemouth will need their central midfielders to be protection their defence as best they can. All the transfer talk probably had an impact on how Arter has been thinking and playing and he needs to find out his future just by playing games. While it is a shame that is not going to be with AFCB for now, it is better that he gets out and plays rather than sits getting frustrated at Bournemouth. 

Can Gosling get more games than last season?

Jefferson Lerma will be keen to play of course, but with only having been in Bournemouth for a few days and still getting to know his new team-mates I rather fancy Howe keeping him on the bench for the first fixture. That way Lerma can judge the pace of the English game and take in the atmosphere perhaps before getting huge applause to start his AFCB towards the latter part of the game. It would be brave of Howe to start with Lerma, but who knows, Howe will pick who he wants to play and he'll know who is most ready to play.

Cherry Chimes gives a preview on AFCB for Be In Sports

Since writing this post, Eddie Howe has informed fans that Jefferson Lerma will not be available for selection as he has only had one training session with AFCB and needs to be fully fit before he plays which could mean he is out of contention for a few weeks yet.