Bournemouth faces a striker crisis as both Dominic Solanke and Enes Unal are battling injuries. Solanke, the team’s leading scorer with 17 goals this season, missed Tuesday’s FA Cup loss to Leicester City due to a knee injury.
Unal, who started in his place, was forced off at halftime with a potential collarbone injury following a collision with Conor Coady.
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Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola expressed his concerns: “He [Solanke] wasn’t feeling well. He had some issues in the knee.
“It doesn’t look very big, but he wasn’t ready to be involved.
“Obviously it is never a good moment to lose your top scorer. I hope it is not something big and he can help us in the next games.
“We did an MRI just today (Tuesday), so we have to see what he has, assess him, how he wakes up tomorrow. From there, we will see.”
Unal meanwhile has been taken to the hospital regarding his blow but the manager was unable to give any more details regarding the severity of the injury.
He added: “Enes, I think he has gone to the hospital also.
“He finished with something in the clavicle. We have to check if it is something worse or just a knock.
“He finished the first half, but he was already complaining in the last minutes.
“I think he was looking very dangerous. He was finishing some things.
“He was fighting well with the centre-backs. But it’s a shame he couldn’t continue. I hope he doesn’t have a really bad injury. But we will see.
“It is true that to lose your two number nines on the same day is always a bad thing.”
The Cherries now anxiously await updates on their strikers’ conditions ahead of Sunday’s crucial match against Burnley.
Iraola believes Unal’s injury could be more severe.
“I think Enes is going to be more difficult (to recover) because at the end he didn’t want to go out, but he had a really bad knock,” said Iraola.
“We will see. I hope it is not very bad. But when it is bone related, it is always very dangerous.
“I think Dom has more chances. It is very bad to go out of the competition and lose your two number nines on the same night.”
Unal made his second performance since joining Bournemouth from Getafe over the winter transfer window and will be hoping his injury isn’t severe after just breaking into the team.
