Marcos Senesi and Hamed Traore: Bournemouth boss drops double injury update for Tottenham clash
AFC Bournemouth manager Gary O’Neil has claimed that while Marcos Senesi is expected to return to his team for the Tottenham Hotspur clash in north London later today (April 15), Hamed Traore isn’t.
The 25-year-old Argentine centre-back missed his team’s 1-0 league clash against Leicester City but is expected to be back in the Cherries team when they take on Spurs. Chris Mepham, Jack Stephens, and the highly-rated youngster Ilya Zabarnyi are also O’Neil’s centre-back options.
Traore, meanwhile, continues to be out for his team. The 23-year-old Ivory Coast attacker joined Bournemouth from Sassuolo in January and has played in seven games since then but like Senesi, was absent when his team beat a struggling Foxes side on April 8.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, O’Neil said (h/t official club website):
“Marcos Senesi has done [a] bit of work and we hope to have him in the squad. Hamed Traore will miss out, he’s not quite ready sadly. Everyone that was available for the last one is still available for this one, so we’re in a pretty good place. It’s certainly good to have Marcos back around it ahead of this weekend.
Big task ahead
Right-back Ryan Fredericks and wide midfielder Junior Stanislas are also currently sidelined. Injuries or not, Bournemouth won’t be an easy side to beat.
No Premier League team is. They are 15th in the table with 30 points from 30 games so far but showed against Leicester that they have the defensive stability to go without conceding for 90 minutes.
It’s not like we are without our injury problems. Lucas Moura continues to serve a suspension for a straight red card while Ben Davies, Ryan Sessegnon, Yves Bissouma, Emerson Royal and Rodrigo Bentancur are out with injuries.
The Uruguay international, in fact, has already been ruled out for the remainder of the season with an ACL injury. Ivan Perisic is fit and fine to start down the left side while Pedro Porro is expected to start on the opposite flank.
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Midfield is an area of problem and it remains to be seen who will partner Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the centre of the park. Oliver Skip and Pape Matar Sarr are our two options there.
