Eddie Howe admits that he faces a huge week of selection decisions for the clash against Nottingham Forest at St James' Park.
Despite having a few easier calls to make on stars like Kieran Trippier, Matt Targett, Sven Botman, Bruno Guimaraes, Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson, Howe indicated that no position is "a certainty" and after fielding two different line-ups against Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao two good victories have increased his selection dilemmas.
When asked if his first team sheet of the 2022/23 Premier League season was starting to form in his mind, Howe said: "I would probably need to look back at the game. But there were some good displays today and yesterday individually and players certainly staked a claim.
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"It's not just on these two games - it is on training and the whole of pre-season as well. So there is a big body of work that forms my opinion, not just this weekend."
But regardless of who ends up on the bench or in the stands next week against newly promoted Forest, Howe feels the squad is stronger than when he first arrived. Since then £140million has been splashed out on stars like Trippier, Bruno and Botman.
When asked if he was in a stronger position than when he started the job, Howe added: "Yes I would agree with that. You could see from the two games that there is no way we could have competed with the two teams we've played if the spine of the squad wasn't strong.
"But I think we have more than done that. You look at every position there are people fighting for places. I don't think any position is a certainty. I think it's a great thing for the team during a tough season."
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