Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Bournemouth are attempting to rush through new signing Juan Iturbe’s paperwork in time to face West Ham.
Fellow new signing Benik Afobe is expected to be involved against the Hammers.
West Ham will assess winger Enner Valencia and midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate, who both missed Saturday’s win over Wolves with minor knocks.
Manuel Lanzini faces up to six weeks on the sidelines after suffering a recurrence of a thigh injury.
Editor’s Note: Bournemouth have been probably the busiest side since the Transfer Window has opened with them signing 3 forwards to boost their attacking options. Juan Iturbe joined early in the window while Benik Afobe was added on Sunday this goes alongside the return of Lewis Grabban to give Eddie Howe plenty of options to choose from.
Juan Iturbe and Benik Afobe could certainly feature for the visit of West Ham but they might just be beaten by the clock to get Lewis Grabban in the squad. On Saturday Bournemouth beat Birmingham to progress to the F.A. Cup 4th Round and will be looking to get their league form back to winning ways.
After winning 3 games in a row they have now failed to win in their last 3 attempts so Eddie Howe has obviously thought more firepower is needed as they bid to pull further away from the drop zone. They play host to a West Ham who also progressed to the Cup 4th Round and haven’t lost in their last 7 league matches.
Although that record is slightly misleading in that they had to slog out 5 draws while the had a full treatment table but thankfully returns to the first team has seen them win their last two league matches at home to Southampton to Liverpool.
Although it seems there’s 1 step forward and 2 steps back as Manuel Lanzini has now been ruled out for 6 weeks but Slaven Bilic did state that Dimitri Payet is “99% certain to start” against Bournemouth. So at least that will ease the latest injury blow
I think with a West Ham side boosted by the return of Payet they will win their 3rd league game in a row and extend their run to 8 games unbeaten while it will be 4 without a win for Eddie Howe’s men. An away win for me.
