Iraola's squad set to be stretched

Premier League teams, even those not in Europe and out of the Carabao Cup, face eight games between now and the end of 2024, at a time of year when suspensions start kicking in (the 'cut off' for five cautions does not come until teams have played 19 games, which means the end of December), and injuries naturally take their toll while television dictates that teams sometimes play at unusual times.

Though both are ever-present in the Premier League this season, neither Milos Kerkez (Hungary) nor Antoine Semenyo (Ghana) joined up with their countries during this international break because of injury concerns.

The Ghana FA stated that Semenyo was “nursing an injury of the patella tendon due to overload of games”, and that the Cherries medical team “thought it wise to use the break to refer him to a tendon specialist to prevent worsening of the injury”.

Julian Araujo, who has shared the right-back role with stalwart Adam Smith this season (“platooning” the position, to use a US sports phrase), has gone under the knife to have hamstring surgery. While no timescale has been given on his recovery, such operations usually mean an absence of months rather than weeks.

All of the above means Andoni Iraola’s squad may be a little stretched between now and the end of 2024. As I wrote here last week, Ryan Christie misses the Brighton game with a one-match suspension while Marcos Senesi, Justin Kluivert and Semenyo are all on four yellow cards.

All of the squad are likely to be needed at some point, which may give opportunities to the likes of Max Aarons, who has not made it off the substitutes’ bench this season but is now the only natural full-back cover for Smith and Kerkez.