CHERRIES boss Andoni Iraola explained his hesitance to swap out Antoine Semenyo and Justin Kluivert during the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa stemmed from liking what he was seeing, rather than with fitness in mind.

After staring December with a hard-earned draw with Aston Villa, Cherries now face two away games in the space of four days.

First they travel to London to face Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening, before a trek up north to visit Manchester United on Saturday.

In total, Cherries will play seven Premier League fixtures in the final month of 2023.

This season Iraola has picked up a habit of refreshing his wide options around the hour mark in games, helped by the abundance of wingers available to him.

Despite both Antoine Semenyo and Justin Kluivert walking a tight-rope for much of the game following first-half bookings, Iraola waited until the final 20 minutes to make changes.

Asked if the substitutions were made in mind of Cherries’ busy schedule, Iraola told the Daily Echo: “I wasn't thinking of the next game.

“I was happy with what I was seeing.

“I was also considering Ant (Antoine Semenyo) and Justin (Kluivert) with yellow cards, because they were playing well, they were being a threat offensively.

“They were still with energy. And when I started to see that, probably they lost a little bit of energy, we made the subs.”