As the fixtures across the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League come thick and fast, Eddie Howe will be feeling very relieved at sticking by his demands for plenty of midfielders to be available to him.
The gaffer has made it very clear in the past that he needs six central midfielders at all times, and the recent injuries to each of Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes and Lewis Miley justify Howe being so adamant about sufficient squad depth in the heart of his team.
The injury blow to Miley, a dead leg which has had him out of the squad for a number of weeks now, came at the worst possible time for the youngster, as he was perhaps our best player for much of the winter months.
Thankfully for Miley, Howe and the rest of the team, however, he could be back and playing again very soon…
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of our upcoming Champions League clash against Qarabag in Azerbaijan, Eddie Howe addressed the ongoing injury concerns within the squad, including Miley’s.
Whilst the teenager isn’t set to return just yet, he’s made some positive strides recently and is edging closer to being available once again.
> _“He’s doing alright. He’s made good progress in the last few days. We’re happy with his progress._
>
> _“He’s had a number of scans, it came from a knock and it was a really bad dead leg which gave him some muscle disruption so as soon as that’s healed, which we think it is now, we can push him on quite quickly.”_
The rest will have served Miley well. Unless he’s able to recover in time, it would make sense for him to also be rested for this weekend’s game away at Manchester City, whilst simultaneously hoping he will be available for the home leg of our play-off at St James’ Park.
Tonight’s game is expected to see the return of Joelinton to the senior squad after the big Brazilian has missed the last six games in all competitions through injury.
And despite his excellent form prior to his injury layoff, Howe will likely depend on the in-form collective of Sandro Tonali, Jacob Ramsey and Joe Willock as his midfield for the Qarabag clash.
Much like Miley, we won’t want to rush Joelinton back so soon, especially with games against the likes of Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea all on the horizon.
Joelinton could be forced to accept some rest in the Champions League soon however, as he’s just single booking away from a one game suspension. He’s on thin ice heading into the knockout stages, and his cards won’t be cleared until the culmination of the quarter-finals.