Scott Parker gives an update on injuries ahead of AFC Bournemouth's Championship trip to Derby on Sunday
Jordan Zemura and Adam Smith remain sidelined for Cherries boss, Scott Parker, ahead of this weekend’s trip to Derby.
Parker confirmed the defensive due will miss the tie at Pride Park as top meets bottom in the Championship's Sunday lunchtime offering.
Smith has been out since the middle of October with a knee injury that was initially only meant to keep him out for several weeks and has since seen a specialist but is now on the "right track".
Speaking ahead of Sunday's game, Parker said" Adam Smith still misses out on Sunday.
"He is on the right track now, he's on the grass, he's doing great work - albeit not with the first team at the moment - but is certainly progressing the right way.
"He's doing some ball work, some physical work and hopefully in the next few days we can integrate him a little bit more with the team, and we will see how that progresses with him really."
For Zemura it is a similar situation. The left-back has not featured for the club since the 2-0 win away to Reading, missing the games with Preston and Swansea after a superb start to the season..
Despite the international break, Zemura has not recovered in time to make Sunday's game, but Parker is hopeful his young defender will be back on the grass soon.
Parker added: "JZ (Zemura) has still got a bit of an issue, he is immobilised in a boot at the moemnt.
"Hopefully he comes out of that in the next couple of days and we will probably have a bit of a clearer picture on how well we can progress on him moving forward."
There is positive news for Jefferson Lerma though. The Colombian international was forced to play in a mask whilst on internationla duty with the South American side but Parker revealed that the midfielder is "okay" and available for selection.
Parker said: "Jeff's okay, he damaged his nose in the last game against Swansea.
"It was out of line and we just needed to straighten his nose up, which we did, and he has to obviously wear a face wask just for that to set."
The break came at a good time according to the head coach, allowing for the team to take a momet to pause from an intensive Championship campaign that has seen the Dorset club only lose one game.
"It's come at a good time.
"I said after the game (against Swansea), to take a bit of time to refresh, a bit of time to refresh, to recharge a little bit while also working hard, which we have done - I feel we got that balance really well.
" is now a very tough part of the season for us, so we are in a good place in that sense."