Eddie Howe has been speaking to the press at the club’s media centre this morning, offering fitness updates on Sven Botman, Kieran Trippier, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Brentford.
Starting with Botman, the boss revealed that the Dutchman is “fully training” and back “looking good” in 11 vs 11 sessions. However, he is still a “few weeks off from playing competitively”, suggesting we won’t see the centre-back until later this month at the very least.
“He is doing well, the initial moments in training were passive but now he is fully training,” Howe said. “He is looking good in the 11v11s, he is still a few weeks off from playing competitively but he is looking good. It has been a big boost to have him training, he is a big guy and a big presence and we missed him.”
Howe on Trippier, Tonali, Gordon and Isak
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Kieran Trippier missed out on Wednesday night through illness and is ‘improving’, says Howe, but a call on his involvement will be made today.
Howe admitted there were some tired bodies in the team after emptying the tank against Liverpool, revealing that Sandro Tonali had ‘cramp’ with 15 minutes to play, Anthony Gordon was ‘fatigued’ and Alexander Isak ‘tired’ towards the ends, but he’s hoping all three will be fine to go again tomorrow.
Asked if he’ll have to make changes at Brentford, Howe said: “That’s something we’re going to discuss at length today and try and find the right balance between change and consistency of selection.
“There were some tired bodies in the team. Sandro Tonali had cramp with 15 minutes to go, Anthony Gordon was fatigued at the end of his performance, which was very, very good and naturally when you empty like that and you give so much to the game, there’s gonna be a hit.
“Alex \[Isak\] worked extremely hard and he was tired at the end so that our job is to refuel the group and go again in what is another great opportunity for us.