AFC Bournemouth vs Leicester City at Stadion.Core.ViewModels.Matchday.LocationViewModel
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- W
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- W
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- Position
- 12th
- Played
- 38
- Points
- 44
- L
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- W
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- L
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- D
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- Position
- 9th
- Played
- 38
- Points
- 47
Team news: Arter to miss Leicester visit
Eddie Howe has confirmed that Harry Arter will miss the weekend’s Premier League game against Leicester City this weekend.
The Cherries boss will also make a late call on the fitness of Dan Gosling, whilst Callum Wilson continues to make good progress in training following his recovery from a long-term knee injury.
“Harry Arter will also miss out,” Howe said in his pre-match press conference.
“The problem isn’t a serious one, but he is injured and hasn’t trained with the group this week.
“We’ll also have to make a late call on Dan Gosling. He was involved in a collision at the end of Everton game and that’s a situation we’ll continue to assess in the run-up to the game.”
“Tyrone Mings is still out, whilst Callum Wilson is making very good progress in training, but he still has some way to go.”
And speaking of Wilson’s return to full training, the manager added: “It has been great to see him back and he’s done very well.
“He’s a very good personality and brings a real energy to the group. The rest of the lads like him and he’s a really positive person to have around the place.
“In terms of his comeback, it’s difficult to put a timeframe on his return. He’s going to need game time.
“Once the physios are happy with his training we’ll look to get him some match time and minutes on the pitch.”
Media View: What to expect from Leicester?
Leicester City travel to Vitality Stadium on Saturday, for the fifth Premier League encounter between the two sides.
But that can we expect from Craig Shakespeare’s side, after some tricky opening fixtures have left the Foxes 17th.
We caught up with the Leicester Mercury’s James Sharpe to get the lowdown on Leciester and see how they look heading into Saturday’s game.
You can follow James on twitter at @TheSharpeEnd.
afcb.co.uk: Firstly, tell us a little bit about Leicester’s start to the season, it’s certainly been quite tough…
JS: Yeah they have. They’ve played ok and have been in most of the games, but they’ve just come out on the wrong side.
At Arsenal they were leading with less than 10 minutes to go but somehow lost, against Manchester United they battled well for 70 minutes and then one lapse of concentration undid them, they were then narrowly beaten at Chelsea, whilst against Liverpool they had a penalty to equalise but missed it.
The draw against Huddersfield was a frustrating one because they felt that it was a game that they should have won, but they weren’t at their best. The fans are starting to get a bit frustrated because we’ve been ok but they haven’t got the results that the probably should have done.
afcb.co.uk: They came so close against Arsenal and Liverpool so can they take any confidence from that?
JS: A little bit. Craig Shakespeare always says that you can’t really take positives when you haven’t picked up any points, which I guess is a fair point.
But they are creating chances and they are scoring goals. The problem they’ve got it that they keep switching off, whether it’s just on set-plays or just little mistakes here and there which are costing them.
Although, now they’ve got these tough fixtures out the way, they can now look at the upcoming games.
afcb.co.uk: Jamie Vardy is in good form, is he the player to look out for on Saturday?
JS: Yeah, I think Vardy is a player that every team has to look out for because he’s so ruthless and tenacious in behind defences.
He’s the kind of flayer that, once he gets on a goalscoring run, he just keeps going and going as we saw a couple of seasons ago when he broke the record for scoring in consecutive games.
Shinji Okazaki is one that has impressed more than you would imagine. He’s always been renowned for his hard work and the role that he plays for Leicester is so crucial, doing all the dirty work linking the midfield and the attack.
The one criticism with him was that he didn’t score enough goals, but he’s managed four in his last seven Premier League games, which is more than in his last 48 matches before that. As a result, he’s keeping some pretty big-name players out the team.
afcb.co.uk: Finally, Leicester made a few prominent signings in the summer. What have you made of their performances so far?
JS: I think that’s the thing really, Leicester fans haven’t really seen much of them. Vincent Iborra came in as a midfielder from Sevilla but he picked up a groin injury before the season started so he’s yet to make his debut.
Kelechi Iheanacho also came in but he picked up a toe injury in the final pre-season game with Borussia Monchengladbach.
The one that has come in and impressed greatly is Harry Maguire. He looks to be an absolute bargain at £17 million. He received his first England call up the other week and he’s looked really good, both as a strong defender and also for his ability on the ball – that’s something that Leicester defenders aren’t really renowned for so he’s certainly added that to their game.
James writes for the Leicester Mercury and you can visit their sports page here.
Ref Watch: Graham Scott in charge of Foxes clash
Graham Scott will be the man in the middle as the Cherries host Leicester City at Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
Scott has officiated two Premier League games to date this season, firstly taking charge of Brighton’s 0-0 draw with Watford, before refereeing Tottenham’s memorable 3-0 win over Everton.
Additionally, the 49-year-old took charge of Manchester United’s League Cup tie with Burton last week, as the 13-time Premier League champions ran out 4-1 winners.
On Saturday, Scott will be assisted by Andy Garrett and Daniel Cook, with Keith Stroud the fourth official.
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