Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe feels the imminent return of “big players” like midfielder Lewis Cook can help kick-start their campaign.
England international Cook is in the final stages of rehabilitation from the serious knee injury he suffered last season.
The 22-year-old played an hour against QPR in a closed-doors friendly and could come into contention for a place in the squad for Sunday’s Premier League match against Everton.
“This weekend might come a bit too early for Lewis Cook, he’s trained now for a sustained period of time and looked really good,” Howe said.
“He is getting closer and closer and I will have to make a late call on him.”
Howe told a press conference: “It is a huge boost to the team when you consider players like Simon Francis and Lewis Cook all beginning to be back involved around the training group.
“They are big players for us and we are really looking forward to getting a healthy squad back together.”
“Lloyd Kelly, touch wood, will be training today, which is his first training session back,” Howe said of the former Bristol City player.
“He won’t be involved this weekend, but it’s a good step forward where he is around the training group and we will look to get him a game as soon as possible.”
“For me the start of the season has been that we’ve shown flashes of what we can do,” Howe said.
“The challenge is to find our true level and hit that consistently.”
