Bournemouth face Nottingham Forest in the EFL Championship this weekend and Scott Parker has provided an injury update ahead of Saturday’s clash.
Last Friday’s 2-2 draw with West Brom saw 10 academy graduates in the matchday squad as Bournemouth’s injury concerns mounted. Many of the club’s senior players have been sidelined for a while and look likely to miss this weekend’s game against Forest.
The Cherries boss confirmed that Arnaut Danjuma, Steve Cook and Leif Davis need more time, despite returning to the grass, having missed most of pre-season.
Speaking ahead of the game, Parker said: “Arnie Danjuma is back training with the group, he has missed a lot and needs some work to get up to speed fitness wise, but it is good that he is back with the group and back training with us, that’s a real positive.
“Steve Cook is the same, albeit modified, he is still not in full training, so still not available to play.
“Leif Davis is training on his own, he has been with the group a couple of days and probably fits into the Danjuma category having not done a lot of work over pre-season, so we will need to judge where exactly he is.”
With regards to Junior Stanislas, who was removed last minute from the squad against West Brom having picked up a hamstring problem, the Bournemouth head coach was positive with the winger’s progress, saying: “Junior Stanislas had a pleasing result on his scan, it was not as bad as we first thought, he is already on the grass running again.
“This weekend probably comes a little too quick, but I like to think the coming games next week we will see Junior back.”
Ben Pearson is another player who has not had a preseason having been away from the club after being unwell. But Parker revealed the midfielder is back training: “Ben Pearson is back with the group as well, again probably not done a lot of work over the last couple of weeks, we need to judge that nearer the time for the weekend to see where we are with that one.”
One player who is likely to return for the trip to Nottingham is Jack Stacey. The right-back limped off during the Cherries pre-season game against Chelsea and Parker revealed “he has trained the last couple of days” and that it is “looking positive” the defender will be available come Saturday.