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Bournemouth Team News – Defender returns as Howe gives mysterious injury update

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has no fresh injury concerns ahead of his side’s FA Cup tie against Arsenal, the club confirmed.

Howe will welcome back defender Steve Cook who is available for selection again after serving a one-match suspension following his red card against Norwich City last week.

Cook returns at a crucial time for Bournemouth who have been dragged into the relegation battle due to a poor string of results over the past few weeks.

Bournemouth won 3-1 at home on Tuesday against Brighton in the Premier League, ending a run of four successive losses in the league.

Howe may also make changes to his starting eleven keeping in mind that Premier League survival should be his top priority.

“We have made changes previously. I always back the squad and I always back the players that are picked to be good enough to win the respective game. We’ll look at who we have fit and available, we have a very small squad to pick from.”

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe on his team selection

Howe claimed that despite no fresh injuries, there are some players in the squad who are playing through minor injury problems.

These players would ideally have been rested had the whole squad been fit.

“We do have injury concerns over some of the players who have been playing every week in the Premier League and I’ve made that clear for some time now. There are some players playing with injuries that ideally if we had a full squad to pick from wouldn’t be playing.”

Howe on his squad’s injury concerns

Joshua King, Junior Stanislas, Charlie Daniels and David Brooks are the notable absentees for Howe’s side and none of them are expected back before February.

Injuries to these key players over a busy January has stretched Bournemouth’s squad thin and players who have had to play more matches have picked up minor injuries and strains which they are currently playing through.

The manager however refused to name the players who have been struggling with these injuries.

“We’ll wait and see what team is available. We do have a couple of injury concerns, I won’t go into individual names but there are a couple of players who are struggling.”

Howe on playees struggling with minor injuries

Bournemouth beat Championship side Luton Town in the third round while their opponents on Monday, Arsenal, overcame Leeds United.

Arsenal secured a 2-2 draw against Chelsea on Tuesday thanks to goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Hector Bellerin.

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