Gary O’Neil has confirmed that Lewis Cook will make his return to the squad for this weekend’s game against Arsenal.
Cook suffered a knee injury in the Cherries’ 2-0 loss to Brentford, having to be brought off in the 35th minute, but the Englishman returns to the side for the first time in almost two months.
Gary O’Neil also confirmed that Tavernier and Zabarnyi are unavailable for the trip to the Emirates, with the Ukrainian still yet to make his debut for Bournemouth after his £20 million move to the Vitality Stadium in January.
“Lloydy (Kelly) is closer, on the grass today. Lewis Cook is back involved which is good”.
“Ilya Zabarnyi is back out doing some good work but won’t be involved this weekend. The rest is fairly similar.”
The Bournemouth manager also confirmed that David Brooks will play for Bournemouth this season, however he is still unavailable for this weekend’s game.
“It’ll be an incredible moment as soon as we can get him back on there. He’s worked very very hard and has been through some tough spells.”
“We’ll all be absolutely delighted for him I’m sure he’ll get an incredible reception and then from my point of view I’m desperate to have David Brooks the footballer back as well”.
Gary O'Neil's side will look to move out of the relegation zone with a win against top of the league Arsenal and forget about their 4-1 defeat to Manchester City last weekend. The Cherries lost the reverse fixture 3-0, going two goals down within 11 minutes. Bournemouth haven't beaten Arsenal in their last six attempts, with their last win coming in 2018 in a 2-1 win at the Vitality Stadium.
The visitors are in good form having won their last three, most recently beating Everton 4-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night. The Gunners could be without striker Eddie Nketiah after he picked up a knock after coming off the bench on Wednesday, and Jorginho is back to full fitness after having an illness.
O’Neil said: “It’ll be a good test, the boys are looking forward to it, and not one that we go to look to take part in”.