EDDIE Howe revealed he has his Cherries’ starting XI for the Championship curtain-raiser against Charlton in his head – but urged his squad to change his mind.

On the eve of Cherries’ showpiece friendly with global giants Real Madrid tomorrow (kick-off 7.45pm), the Cherries chief confirmed the pieces of his selection puzzle are steadily clicking into place.

But with Howe also set to field a first team squad in today’s friendly at Woking, the Bournemouth boss insists there is still plenty of time for his players to force their way into the reckoning.

Howe told the Daily Echo: “I think you always have an idea but players, and of course injuries, can change that.

“You always want to leave it open for people to change your opinions and force their way into your team and it will never be a closed book in that respect, but I do now have an idea of the team forming in my head.”

Explaining his decision to field the first team in matches on consecutive days, Howe added: “The lads need extended minutes.

“We need to get plenty of game into them so we plan to play a strong 11 in both fixtures for around 70 minutes and build it up to 90 next week. Adding the Real Madrid fixture has done us no harm in that respect.

“I don’t think it has changed our preparation in any way in terms of what we do in training. Our minds are on Charlton and making sure the lads are as good as they can be for that game, not this (the Real Madrid) game.

“As big as the match is, we are still working and still experimenting slightly and we’ve got to make sure we get a result against Charlton. That is the biggest one.”

Marc Pugh, Matt Ritchie and Matt Tubbs could miss out on the Spanish showpiece as the trio try to recover from minor knocks, but Richard Hughes should return while Eunan O’Kane and Ryan Allsop may also feature over the weekend.

The Daily Echo will be providing live coverage of the Real Madrid clash on our matchday live blog. Log on to bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport from 7pm for up-to-the-minute updates from Dean Court.