Howe explains Wilshere omission

 The Arsenal loanee midfielder came on as a substitute just before the hour mark at Turf Moor, with Howe having decided to leave him out to keep him fresh for the challenge of upcoming home clashes with Leicester city and Southampton.And the Cherries boss is happy that he made the right call, despite seeing his side suffer a damaging loss to the Clarets.

He told the Daily Echo: „The need to protect Jack from the workload meant, in our opinion, he had to miss one of our three games in eight days.

„We felt, with the physicality of Burnley, the way they play and a couple of tactical tweaks from us, this would be the one the team would benefit from (Wilshere missing) most.“

Meanwhile, Howe has also called on his side to show a little more strength in their mental approach, although he is relatively happy with the way they have played for most of the season to date.

He added: „We possibly need a little bit more mental toughness at times. The way we play, we’re always looking to create and we need to remember to defend better at certain moments.

„We know we’re not the finished article. There are a lot of areas in the team that need, not massive overhauls, just tweaks. I don’t think there’s anything drastically wrong.“

Bournemouth are 5/2 to earn a draw against Premier League champions Leicester at the Vitality Stadium, while the visitors are 11/1 to claim a 1-0 victory and are 3/1 to keep a clean sheet.