Bournemouth could welcome Luis Sinisterra back from injury against Liverpool this weekend. The 25-year-old Colombian has been sidelined since October but is back in training ahead of the Reds' visit to the Vitality Stadium.
The Cherries have endured a torrid time with injuries recently, and although the news of Sinisterra's imminent return is welcome, Andoni Iraola is still set to be without eight other players against the Reds.
Enes Unal, Alex Scott, Julian Araujo, Marcos Senesi, Adam Smith, James Hill and Evanilson are all injured, while new signing Julio Soler is at the South American Under-20 Championship with Argentina.
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“I think it’s basically going to be the same squad we had against Forest the other day,” Bournemouth manager Iraola said ahead of the game against Liverpool. “The only player that has started doing things with us is [Luis] Sinisterra, from the ones injured. We will assess him today but it’s not sure that he will be involved tomorrow."
Meanwhile, Liverpool could welcome three players back into its squad. Joe Gomez and Diogo Jota have both been nursing injuries in recent weeks, while Darwin Nunez pulled out of the squad for the Champions League defeat by PSV Eindhoven in midweek, but all of them trained on Friday.
"All three are in training today," Slot said of Gomez, Jota and Nunez. "The question is are they already far enough to join us towards Bournemouth. That's something we have to wait and see today because we have more than 20 players available. We have to make the smartest decision for them and also for winning the game tomorrow."
Curtis Jones is the only other Liverpool player who has been missing recently through injury, but his name was not mentioned during Friday's press conference, so it is not clear where the midfielder is at with his recovery.
Jones limped off at half-time in the 2-1 win over Lille last week and Slot has not given an update on the England international since his pre-Ipswich press conference a week ago. "He went out during half-time, so that's mostly not a good sign," Slot said on January 24. "He will not be available for the Ipswich game. We have to wait and see how long it's going to take. I'm not expecting months... but let's see if he’s available for PSV or Bournemouth."
