Speaking to the media on Friday, Eddie Howe hinted that Sven Botman should be back in the squad for Saturday night’s trip to Man City.
In the end, however, the big Dutchman was completely absent from the squad, missing out again after a back issue also sidelined him for recent trips to Aston Villa and Qarabag.
On his situation, Howe commented that Sven “didn’t feel 100% right” before the game, meaning we opted against taking any chances with the former Lille centre-back.
As a result, Howe admitted there is no guarantee that the 26-year-old will be ready for Tuesday’s second leg against Qarabag, where we’ll be light on fit centre-backs with Malick Thiaw already ruled out through suspension.
“We thought he was going to be available yesterday.
“But he just didn’t feel 100% right, so we didn’t want to take any chances with him.”
“We hope he will be available on Tuesday, but that’s not 100% clear currently.”
Hopefully Botman can return, as we also have Fabian Schar absent and Jamaal Lascelles has left, with previous stand-in option Emil Krafth also absent and likely to be out for the season ahead of surgery.
Not only that, it feels like Botman was just starting to stay fit and string together some solid displays, so it’s a real worry to see his back causing him problems for the second time this season.
Elsewhere, there were four other key players absent at the Etihad last night, as Lewis Miley (dead leg) and Yoane Wissa (knock in training) remained out, along with Bruno Guimaraes (hamstring) and Tino Livramento (hamstring).
With Qarabag to come on Tuesday, followed by a potential must-win clash with Everton next Saturday, let’s hope we get a few back fit and able to ease the load on a squad currently stretched by our hectic schedule across league, cup and European competitions.
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