BOSS Eddie Howe has described as “a concern” the absence of six first-team players during the early stages of Cherries’ pre-season campaign.

Goalkeeper Ryan Allsop, midfielders Richard Hughes and Eunan O’Kane, wingers Marc Pugh and Matt Ritchie and striker Matt Tubbs have been nursing minor injuries.

Pugh and Tubbs have not featured in any of Cherries’ three warm-up games since sustaining their injuries during the first few days of training last month.

Allsop, O’Kane and Ritchie all played the first half of Cherries’ 2-0 defeat by FC Zurich, while Hughes, a half-time substitute in Switzerland, came off after 75 minutes.

As a precaution, the sextet were restricted to a watching brief against both Christchurch and West Ham, with their respective injuries not serious.

Howe told the Daily Echo: “It is a concern that we have had so many players out and I think that contributed to the difficulty we had in the second half against West Ham because we didn’t have a strong enough squad to make wholesale changes.

“None of them are long-term injuries and Ryan, Eunan and Richard, and, hopefully, Marc and Matt Tubbs should be fine in the next few days. Matt Ritchie might be slightly behind them though.”

Discussing Cherries’ progress so far during pre-season, Howe said: “I thought we started really well against West Ham. We were bright for the first five minutes and, in patches, I thought we were excellent.

“Our decision-making in the final third wasn’t as good as it could have been but we haven’t really detailed any work in that respect yet.

“It has all been deeper work so putting detail into the striking work will be our final push.

“There are things to work on at this stage and fitness levels to improve.

“But when you consider the opposition and the quality we were playing against, I think it is too easy to dismiss some of the really good football we played.”

Howe (pictured) added: “We are happy with our progress but I think, in the back of our minds, we know we have got work to do to improve.”