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First Team

Team news: Stanislas ready to go

Junior Stanislas has overcome his illness and is ready to come back into the AFC Bournemouth squad for Tuesday's match away at Huddersfield Town.

The attacker has managed just 39 minutes since mid-March and after being in the frame but not making the weekend win over Coventry City he is now ready to return to the fold.

The Cherries travel to the John Smith's Stadium with just six games remaining in the season and the opportunity to open up a gap in the race for the play-offs.

Speaking to the media prior to setting off for West Yorkshire, Jonathan Woodgate gave the latest availability news from his squad.

He said: "Junior Stanislas is back, that's great for us. He's been fantastic for us this season so we're looking forward to getting him back.

"He's scored goals for us and assisted others. We've got a lot of competition for places now and that's great for the team

"I'll have to see, I'll look at them today and see what the team's going to be.

"We have no other concerns, everyone's back now and I'm really pleased, Junior's a valuable member of the squad and he's done fantastically well.

"You're going to get injuries and illnesses, that's what happens in football. What's important is that whoever comes in stakes their claim to play.

"Everyone's chomping at the bit and with Junior coming back in now it's great competition, that's even better for us."

With a good run of form to protect and the games running out, Woodgate spoke of the positive momentum from his side and how he's looked to harness that.

"The players know what we want from them now," he explained. "The defeat against Barnsley gave them a real kick up the backside for what we needed to do to get back into the play-off positions.

"We've done that, but we need to build on it again. You can win four on the spin but it's nothing if you don't win the next game. The next game's Huddersfield and we need to win it.

"What we can gain on our rivals if we win this game makes it very important. Attitude, application, mentality, if they're all at 100% we've got a chance to win the game because we know what ability we have in the dressing room."