Bournemouth v Leeds team news: Kroupi back, Stach doubt
Bournemouth host Leeds United on Saturday 31 October at 16:00 WAT with Junior Kroupi back in the squad and five straight clean sheets behind them, while Leeds wait on midfielder Anton Stach's foot injury, both head coaches said on Thursday.
By Emily · · Updated
Marco Rose and Daniel Farke both spoke to reporters on Thursday 29 October before the Premier League game at Vitality Stadium, according to BBC Sport. Kick-off is 15:00 GMT, which is 16:00 WAT for fans in Nigeria.
Bournemouth team news
Rose said he was "really happy" to have forward Junior Kroupi available again. The Frenchman still has to build up his minutes before he is ready to start. Midfielder Alex Scott will not be in the squad. Rose said Scott is working on the pitch without problems but has not yet joined group training. He "could be an option" for the next league game, away to Ipswich on Sunday 8 November (BBC Sport fixtures), or the club may wait until after the international break to give him two more weeks of work.
The Bournemouth coach said the staff had held talks earlier in the season about conceding too many goals, including from set-pieces. "Now we have five clean sheets in a row and have scored two or three goals in every game," he said. "It's about consistency, belief and momentum." Looking at Leeds, Rose picked out their throw-ins, set-pieces and flexible wing-backs, and called Dominic Calvert-Lewin "a top striker" who is "really difficult to defend".
Leeds team news
Farke told BBC Sport his injury list is "way better" than a week ago. Defender Nico Elvedi has recovered from illness, is back in training and should be available. Calvert-Lewin and Noah Okafor are both in contention after good weeks of training. Farke said Leeds would put more crosses into the box if Calvert-Lewin plays, because of his strength in the air.
Defensive midfielder Anton Stach is still troubled by a foot problem. Farke said there is "a question mark" over him and hopes his condition improves over the next 48 hours. Centre-back Joe Rodon has partly returned to team training after a hamstring injury but needs many more sessions before he is considered. Winger Daniel James is in his second full week of training. Farke said James was in his thoughts for the Sunderland game but he chose Jean-Matteo Bahoya instead, and he asked reporters to ease off the attention on Bahoya, who is on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Farke called Bournemouth "probably the most in-form Premier League team at the moment" and said Leeds want to keep their own intensity high for the full 90 minutes. "If and when their legs start getting tired, perhaps we will have even more of a chance to score a late goal," he said.
TuSport desk view
We checked each result in Bournemouth's run against match reports. They beat Sturm Graz 3-0 in the Europa League on 15 October (Sky Sports), Sunderland 2-0 in the league on 18 October (BBC Sport), AC Milan 3-0 in the Europa League on 22 October (Sky Sports), Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford on 25 October and Aston Villa 3-0 in the Carabao Cup on 28 October (PA via the East Anglian Daily Times). That is 14 goals for and none against, an average of 2.8 a game, across three competitions. Four of the five games were at home, and two opponents, Sunderland and Milan, had a player sent off inside the first half hour.
The fixture list supports Farke's point about tired legs. Saturday will be Bournemouth's sixth match in 17 days and their third in seven days. Leeds last played on Sunday, a 0-0 draw at Sunderland, so they will have had six days to prepare against three for Bournemouth. Rose did make eight changes for the Villa cup tie, so most of his league side should be fresher than the dates suggest.
Leeds arrive seventh with 11 points from eight games, BBC Sport reports, and five of those games were draws. That works out as two wins, five draws and one defeat. Saturday puts a Leeds side that rarely loses against a Bournemouth side that has not let in a goal for more than two weeks.
Why it matters
Bournemouth's run followed a slow start, and the Sunderland game was their first league win of the season. A sixth straight win would carry that form into the trip to Ipswich, with a Carabao Cup quarter-final at Liverpool still to come. Leeds host Tottenham at Elland Road on Saturday 7 November, kick-off 12:30 GMT (13:30 WAT), Leeds United confirmed, and a result on Saturday would protect their place in the top half going into the November break. The Bournemouth defeat also shaped Manchester United's week: read our reports on Michael Carrick's pre-Chelsea news conference and the Fernandes and Carrick talks, and follow the Premier League.
Sources: BBC Sport — Rose on Kroupi, Scott and five consecutive wins · BBC Sport — Farke on injury list, Bahoya 'hype' and in-form Bournemouth · East Anglian Daily Times — Marco Rose says Bournemouth need to maintain hard work after hitting form · Sky Sports — Bournemouth 3-0 Sturm Graz: Cherries win first ever home European game as they make it two from two in Europa League · BBC Sport — Bournemouth earn first league win against 10-man Sunderland · Sky Sports — Bournemouth 3-0 AC Milan: Penalties and Amine Adli's free-kick help Cherries to historic Europa League win as Mike Maignan sent off · BBC Sport — Sunderland still bottom after stalemate with Leeds · BBC Sport — Premier League Scores & Fixtures · BBC Sport — Premier League Scores & Fixtures · Leeds United — Spurs fixture moved for TV coverage
