AFC Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola faced questions from the press ahead of the Cherries’ Premier League clash with Newcastle United on Saturday.
Here are three things we learned…
1. Faivre will be missing for the game
There wasn't a lot of team news for Iraola to report on but he confirmed that midfielder Romain Faivre will miss this weekend's game through illness.
He said: "The only player we are going to lose is Romain Favre, because he's ill. He came today and he's ill with a temperature and I think that it's risky for him to travel.
"He's the only one that probably we didn't expect that he's not going to be able to be involved."
The Cherries boss confirmed that the rest of the absentees remain as expected.
He continued: "We are in a good spot injury-wise. We have the right-back situation [Max Aarons and James Hill], let's say, and Tyler [Adams]."
Philip Billing will also miss the game as he serves the second game of a three-match suspension.
2. Iraola wary of high-scoring Magpies
It's not been a smooth period of the season for former Cherries manager Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United side but Iraola is expecting nothing but a tough challenge for his side.
While Newcastle have conceded goals of late, they are in ruthless scoring form with a minimum of three strikes in each of their last three Premier League matches.
Despite reports suggesting Callum Wilson is recovering from an operation on his chest and Alexander Isak is a doubt for the game, Iraola believes Newcastle have plenty of options to choose from.
"They will have a top striker tomorrow, for sure. I don't know who they will put, but they will have a top, top striker.
"Anthony Gordon is a top player. Amazing. Scores a lot of goals. One of the fastest players in the competition.
"I think Isak can be involved in the game as well. They have a lot of options up front. They've recovered Harvey Barnes, [Miguel] Almiron, [Jacob] Murphy - I can say a lot of players!
"The numbers they have offensively, it doesn't matter who [they select], because they have different options. They are one of the best of the competition, for sure!"
3. Iraola on rotating number ten options
The Cherries head coach was asked about his options for the number ten position, with both Alex Scott and Justin Kluivert having appeared in the role in recent weeks.
He explained that he has been selecting his options based on our opponents and is comfortable with the different players he has at his disposal.
He said: "I think it's a position that where I can use a lot of players. We have a lot of different options that I really like so it's a matter of finding the best matchup.
"Against West Ham, we went with Alex because we thought they were going to put a lot of midfielders inside so we wanted to match up.
"For the home game with Forest, we thought Justin could offer us more attacking power.
"For tomorrow, we don't have Philip Billing. We don't have Romain Faivre, but we still have options, the other day we finished with Enes [Ünal].
"He played a little bit behind Dom [Solanke], so it's a position I'm not concerned because I think we have enough options."
