Over the past eight weeks, AFC Bournemouth have played Manchester United (twice), Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
Over that same period, the Cherries have suffered from a severe injury crisis, Adam Smith, Dan Gosling, Lewis Cook and Simon Francis have also suffered serious knee injuries that have all required surgery.
Cook and Francis have been ruled out for a minimum of the remainder of the season, whilst it is hoped that Smith can return over the coming months.
The picture regarding Dan Gosling is less clear.
A tough run of fixtures, compounded by injuries has left the Cherries with just two victories in eleven games in all competitions.
However, following the Cherries strong start to the 2018/19 Premier League campaign, AFC Bournemouth sit 12th in the top flight of English football after 20 games.
Howe’s side are 3 points behind 7th place and 11 points clear of relegation.
AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe told afcb.co.uk…
“We’ve been through a tough period, the fixture list has been extremely unkind to us.
“We’ve had a real run of successive games and the injury situation is very difficult as we have stretched resources.
“Those injuries maybe meant that I had to play a system I wouldn’t have played ideally.
“That’s combined with confidence but the main focus for me is that we can control our destiny, we have to change this moment and that’s where the focus lies.
Your say…
SlowDownDerek wrote…
This whole Christmas period has been a disaster – not all our fault but we’ve not deserved anything either.
Injuries luck and referee decisions have gone against us. That said we need to cut out ridiculous defensive errors and need much better decision making in the final third. Fine margins and we clearly have it in us but we need to get back to winning ways before a real lack of confidence sets in. Fortunately, we’ve always managed to turn these things around so it shouldn’t be a problem. – Join the conversation, click here.
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