AFC Bournemouth
Head coach Scott Parker had mixed injury news to report ahead of AFC Bournemouth’s clash with fellow Championship high-fliers Coventry City on Saturday.
Parker admitted the past ten days had been “disappointing” in terms of injuries but also said there had been “some slight improvements”.
He said he would make a “late call” on stand-in skipper Gary Cahill who took a heavy blow to the midriff during the 1-1 draw at Millwall on Wednesday.
Parker said: “It’s a bit of a busy treatment room and we’re having to adapt to that.
“Gary got a bang late on and is in a bit of pain at the moment. We’ll make a late call on that to see exactly how he is, but I’m hoping he’ll be okay for tomorrow.
“Ben Pearson and Robbie Brady both have grade one issues which are between seven, ten and 14 days so we’re just in that tricky situation where we are a bit light but, at the same time, I don’t want to put the players at risk.
“Lloyd Kelly is probably ahead of Jordan Zemura. He’s progressing well and is not too far away. Jordan’s probably a little bit longer than that, he’s a few weeks away from being with us.
“Adam Smith has been a little bit stop-start but I think he’s getting through that side of it so, hopefully, in the coming weeks, he’ll be back as well.”
The Cherries have taken four points from their past four games in the Championship following a record-breaking start which saw them go 15 matches unbeaten.
Parker added: “We’ve had a couple of bad results and the performances haven’t been great either to be honest, but I think this is this division.
“You’re always going to have some blips along the way but, of course, we don’t want that to be the case. We got off to an incredible start but there’s no point denying we’ve hit a little bit of a patchy part which we need to improve.
“Coventry are a very good side who’ve been fantastic this season. They’ve got a good shape about them and are a well-coached team.
“You can see each player understands their roles and how they play so we’re in for a tough game, there’s no denying that.
“We’re going to have to be right at it and better than we have been over the course of the past two or three games.”
