American midfielder Tyler Adams is close to making a return from injury according to AFC Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola.
The £20 million signing has only played in on game for the Cherries since signing from Leeds in the summer in a game against Stoke in the Carabao Cup in September where he made a substitute appearance in the last 20 minutes of the 2-0 win.
Iraola said that he won’t be fit for tomorrow’s FA Cup clash against Leicester City but will be returning from injury soon.
“Tyler has started training with the group, last week he started training quite normally not everything but most of the things he does with the group and now it’s a matter of taking the rhythm of his teammates.
It’s very possible also maybe he plays if everything works some minutes with the second team because he will need some rhythm and we will try to fit everything so he can have some minutes and from there he has to build but he’s doing really well”.
Another player that will be missing is Lloyd Kelly. The defender was missing from the squad for Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City, and Iraola said that he is unsure when the Englishman will return to action.
“It’s a difficult one because it’s difficult to establish a timetable it will depend on his sensations because he has a strain, a hip flexor but it’s not the most important of the muscles.
Sometimes with the strain in the hip flexor you could play and it will depend on how he feels how he goes through all the checks let’s say inside and outside and from there we can be more concrete”.
The Cherries play Leicester tomorrow night at the Vitality Stadium and come into the game without a win in five, their last victory coming in the fourth round of this competition against Swansea.
Bournemouth are definitely the favourites going into the cup tie on Wednesday. Not only do the Cherries sit in the league above Leicester, the foxes have also been struggling for form losing both of their last two games to Leeds and Middlesborough. They do however still sit six points clear at the top of the Championship and are early favourites to be promoted to the Premier League this season.
Foxes boss Enzo Maresca said he could make “nine, ten or eleven changes” to his team for the cup tie, and Iraola hinted that it could be similar for the Cherries.
“I can say the same we are going to make changes it’s true, yes. I’m sure he will have, I’m sure he will have, if they don’t start their key players will come to the game and if he sees the change they will go [on] at half-time or in the 52nd or the 53rd maybe.
I think we’ve been there also and I’m sure they are facing a Premier League team and they will want to come here and show everyone how good they are because they are and we will try not to let them do it.”
The fifth-round FA Cup tie will go straight to extra-time and penalties if it’s still a draw after 90 minutes, but Iraola said that he’s setting his team up to win in normal time.
The Cherries are just two games away from Wembley, with the final taking place on the 25th of May. Here is the full timeline for the rest of the FA Cup for this season:
Iraola has said ahead of the game that he is keeping a positive mentality for the game against the Foxes.
“When you start a game, you have to think you are going to win it even against City even if we play away and you start losing, this is the mentality but you have to prepare for all the scenarios.”
You can keep up with the game on Nerve Sport’s twitter account, with a full match report being posted on-the-whistle at full-time.