Gary O’Neil has confirmed that Lloyd Kelly is back in training but isn’t in “peak condition” ahead of Bournemouth’s game with Liverpool on Saturday.
Kelly hasn’t played for Bournemouth since their 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest in January, and since his last game has been stripped of the captaincy with Neto assuming the role last month.
Gary O’Neil said: “Lloyd is doing really well, progressed really well and he’s back in training.”
The Bournemouth head coach also confirmed that Marcus Tavernier, Ilya Zabarnyi and Hamed Traore remain out injured, while Jefferson Lerma is “touch and go” after he missed last weekend’s game against Arsenal.
The Cherries could move themselves out of the relegation zone and up to 16th with a win, and after last week's heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Arsenal which saw O'Neil's side throw away their third two-goal lead of the season, Bournemouth will be looking to bounce back with a win and increase their chances of survival.
O'Neil said: "Not many teams around us in the league are capable of going to the Emirates and doing what we did"
"We went there with a plan and we carried it out and we pushed Arsenal at lot closer than the teams around us have managed to do this year. So huge positives but we need points as well as positives."
Liverpool travel to the Vitality Stadium after their 7-0 thrashing of Manchester United at Anfield. In the reverse fixture Liverpool beat Bournemouth 9-0 in what proved to be the last game of Scott Parker’s reign.
When asked about how the team has changed since the humiliating defeat, O’Neil said: “The lads have given absolutely everything at all times since that Liverpool game, it’s a huge strength of the group that they will give everything and they will continue to”.
“They’ll give everything they’ve got I’m sure”.
You can keep up to date with tomorrow’s game from 11:30 from @nerve_sport on twitter with a full match report being posted at full-time.