Everton gain injury boost ahead of Bournemouth clash as manager rules out £20m key man

AFC Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has revealed that midfielder Tyler Adams will not be available for his side’s trip to face Everton this weekend.

The Cherries are currently winless in the Premier League so far this season and they travel to face Everton some five months after losing 1-0 on the final day of the season.

That victory ensured Sean Dyche’s side would remain in the Premier League in what was a must-win game, and, strangely enough, this game has a similar feeling for Everton following their dismal 2-1 home loss to Luton last weekend.

Dyche was able to name a virtually unchanged squad for this weekend’s action while Iraola, who spoke in his press conference today, revealed that he is set to name a similar side to last week’s 4-0 defeat to Arsenal.

The American has been dealing with a hamstring issue that has restricted him to just 20 minutes of EFL Cup action so far this season, and while it is likely to be an unchanged squad, it won’t include the £20m summer signing Adams.

“Availability will be the same as last week, there are no changes,” he began.

“With Tyler, we don’t expect him soon. We are asking different specialists to take the best route we can. We still haven’t decided, but whatever the solution we take, we don’t expect him soon on the pitch.

“It’s a problem with the same hamstring that he arrived with. He did not feel well after he played some minutes against Stoke.

“He tried it, but he didn’t have good sensations. Now we’ve stopped because it didn’t feel right, so we have to think about another solution. We have to make sure we do the right thing, and we are analysing everything now.”

Iraola admitted Adams is a big loss but he also spoke on how his side have good cover in the form of Lewis Cook and Joe Rothwell.

“We talked a lot about him as he is very important to us,” the head coach said.

“He is still young, he is experienced, he has leadership too, which is good for the team. It has been hard for him because he has been pushing but we cannot change the situation. There was probably something that was not correct and we have to find another solution.

“I’m really happy with the performances of Lew, again Joe played really well against Stoke. They are doing a great job in that position.”