AFC Bournemouth
Manager Eddie Howe hopes AFC Bournemouth’s victory against Everton will give his squad “real confidence”.
Callum Wilson’s double and a Ryan Fraser goal earned the Cherries their first home win of the season in the Premier League.
Howe said: “I was really pleased. You don’t want to go too long without winning at home. This league is hard enough but you are reliant on your home form and we’ve been unfortunate in the previous home games. It was a great win against a good team.
“I thought it gave us a sign of what we can be. I think we’re only going to get stronger this season when we have more players back from injury.
“The group is really strong when we have a full complement of players, we have options in every position.
“At the moment, it’s difficult to rotate the team too much although I did that today because I wanted to freshen things up. This win gives the strength of the group real confidence.”
Midfielder Lewis Cook returned to the starting line-up following a nine-month injury layoff, while Jack Stacey was handed his Premier League debut and Dominic Solanke his first top-flight start of the season.
Howe added: “Lewis was hugely impressive. He has missed a lot of football but he has done everything right in his recovery. He really has put in the yards.
“I’ve never seen a player run as much as he has. We’ve really taken our time with his recovery and haven’t rushed him. He had two behind-closed-doors games and looked really good in both of them and that’s why I selected him.
“He’s got the technical qualities. He handles the ball in any situation and you saw early in the match how he manipulated himself out of some really difficult holes.
“He’s very much the modern-day central midfielder and we’re just pleased to have him back. We hope he stays fit and available and gets back to the levels he was consistently because he was a huge part of our team.
“I thought Jack did really well. He was up against a really tough competitor in Alex Iwobi who is an outstanding player.
“He was examined by him and responded every time. I thought he stepped up defensively and did a really good job for the team.
“Usually, he’s a marauding full-back, up and down the line. But he knew he had to be responsible and defend first. He did it really well.
“I was really pleased with him. It’s a huge moment for any player to make their debut in the Premier League. He’s done it in impressive fashion and was part of a winning team so credit to him.”
Discussing Fraser’s impact from the bench, Howe said: “I was really pleased. It was 1-1 and we hadn’t started the second half particularly well. I felt we needed his enthusiasm, energy and quality.
When he came on, I thought he made a huge difference to the team.
“I wanted to play Dominic Solanke after his impressive cameo against Leicester. He deserved to start so someone had to miss out and, unfortunately for Ryan, it was him. But I think you saw by his reaction what an impressive professional he is and he made the difference.”
At 24 years and 195 days, the average age of the Cherries starting line-up was the youngest in the club’s Premier League era.
Howe said: “I knew it was a young team. We’ve always backed youth and if the players are good enough, they are old enough.
“We try to evaluate every player individually, we don’t judge them by age. But it is a great thing for the future. When we have more options with some of the outstanding young players we have out injured, it’s going to be an exciting team to manage so we are looking forward to that moment.”
