Bournemouth manager Gary O'Neil has confirmed that Jefferson Lerma should be available for the visit of Manchester United this weekend after suffering a broken nose against Crystal Palace.
Lerma was on the receiving end of what looked to be a punch from Palace's Joachim Andersen during their 2-0 defeat to Roy Hodgson's side. Despite the loss, Bournemouth's Premier League status was secured after Leicester lost against Liverpool and Leeds United drew with Newcastle.
The midfielder managed to play the full 90 minutes with the injury and O'Neil has confirmed he will likely wear a protective mask for Saturday's welcoming of the Reds. However, attacker Hamed Traore, who has been absent since the start of April, will not be risked despite returning to training this week.
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“[Hamed] Junior Traore has trained nearly all week fully, but will not be involved tomorrow," O'Neil said on Friday. “[We're] hopeful to get him some minutes before we break up next weekend at Everton, so hopefully he'll be around for that one and then apart from that, we're pretty good.
“Jeff may have to wear something just to help protect his nose from the incident last weekend, but yeah, won't affect his availability.”
United manager Erik ten Hag has fitness concerns of his own after confirming that Marcus Rashford is doubtful for the trip south. The 25-year-old missed last week's 2-0 win over Wolves but had trained all week before being taken ill on Friday. He was not spotted in the travelling squad on Friday evening, although neither were several others who are all expected to be fit.
Scott McTominay was spotted and could return to a matchday squad for the first time since the 2-0 win over Everton at the start of April. The Scotland international was spotted in training this week.
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