Iraola set to make late fitness calls on Bournemouth trio for Arsenal clash – ‘we still don’t know’

News Desk 29 Sep 2023 4:54 PM

Andoni Iraola on the sidelines.

Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola will make late decisions on whether to include Dominic Solanke, Tyler Adams and Luis Sinisterra in his squad to play Arsenal.

Iraola – who replaced Gary O’Neil in June – will go head-to-head with childhood friend Mikel Arteta for the first time as a manager on Saturday in their Premier League meeting at the Vitality Stadium.

Solanke is hoping to recover in quick fashion after sustaining an ankle injury in the midweek Carabao Cup win against Stoke, while summer signings Adams and Sinisterra have been short of game-time following their arrivals from Championship side Leeds United.

Iraola told a press conference: “We still don’t know with some players. We’re training (on Friday) afternoon so, especially with Dom, he didn’t train (on Thursday). We will try for sure to have him available, but we don’t know.”

USA captain Adams made his Cherries debut off the bench against Stoke. It was his first appearance since March following hamstring surgery.

Sinisterra, on a season-long loan, made his first appearance for Bournemouth in their recent 0-0 draw with Chelsea.

Iraola said: “Tyler is one of the cases we are waiting on too. We need to see how he is after playing his first minutes since being out for a while.

“The medical team are monitoring him, so we will take the decisions depending on how he is.

“In terms of Luis, it would have been good to give him some minutes against Stoke, but of course we couldn’t.

“He had good minutes against Chelsea and we know that his quality is there, so hopefully we can see more of it soon.”

Former Rayo Vallecano head coach Iraola and Arteta grew up together in Gipuzkoa, northern Spain, and played alongside each other for local club Antiguoko.

Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso featured in the same Basque team.

Arteta told a press conference on Friday that he had been in touch with Iraola since his arrival on the English south coast.

“We know each other really well. We played together, we had fantastic times together,” Arteta said.

“That’s the beauty of football that 30 years later we are here together in the Premier League as managers. I’m really happy for that.”

Bournemouth Andoni Iraola