Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe to keep the faith with players in relegation fight
Tuesday 19 December 2017 10:24, UK
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe says he will trust his current players in their fight to avoid relegation.
The Cherries have gone six games without a win in the Premier League, a run which has seen them drop to 16th place, just a point above the relegation zone.
But Howe says he will only enter the transfer market in January if injuries make it necessary.
He said: "At the moment, we are not looking at anything [in January]. If we keep the squad together, pick up results then everything changes.
"In January it's a very difficult window to make too many changes in terms of incomings. It's an incredibly expensive market with not too many players to choose from.
"Ideally, we wouldn't be doing too much in that market. Of course, injuries would force your hand to a degree but we are hopeful injuries suffered by the players aren't serious. We need to be adaptable so it's not impossible."
The Cherries will have a welcome distraction as they go to Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
Howe will be aiming to make history by leading Bournemouth into a semi-final of a major cup competition for the first time in their history.
This is only Bournemouth's second appearance in the quarter-finals of the League Cup - they lost their previous match 3-1 against Liverpool in 2014-15.
Bournemouth have played Manchester United and Liverpool in their last two games and, following the visit to Chelsea, an away fixture with Premier League leaders Manchester City looms on Saturday.
Howe says he wants a positive response but admits playing the top sides this year has been more difficult.
He added: "We need to make sure we leave Stamford Bridge feeling good about ourselves again having given a good account of ourselves.
"It's slightly different this year. The top teams have been absolutely ruthless. Not every game of course, there's going to be upsets.
Premier League Highlights
"More consistently they have put their dominance together against the lesser teams. In our first and second year in the Premier League there were more upsets. They have really stamped their dominance on the division this year."
You can watch goals as they go in from Bournemouth's trip to Chelsea from 7.45pm on Sky Sports News on Wednesday night.
