Adam Smith to avoid operation on ankle injury

The former Tottenham full-back limped off against Crystal Palace last week after sustaining the injury late in the contest.

He was seen leaving Selhurst Park in a protective boot.

But the boss insisted the 28-year-old was not expected to go under the knife to rectify the issue.

He said: “At one stage it looked like Adam may have to have an operation on his ankle. It was a tackle with Wilfried Zaha very late in the game.

“He went to have an opinion - an operation would have meant maybe 10 to 12 weeks (out).

“Hopefully he has got away without having the operation, which halves the time, so it’s positive news on Adam.”

Cherries lost three of their key defenders in as many games with Steve Cook (wrist) and Nathan Ake (hamstring) both set to miss Saturday’s trip to Stamford Bridge.

“It was relatively good news on Nathan’s scan,” said Howe.

“He presented like it was going to be a really bad one. The scan showed a grade two (strain).

“But then we have had further opinions and we think we can get him back pretty quickly. With these injuries you do have to be careful.

“The trouble with hamstring injuries, it’s very difficult to give definitive timelines. It would depend on how he feels.

“But I think we are looking at about six weeks. That’s conservative, Nathan could come back sooner than that but I think six weeks is a fair timeline.”

Asked about Cook, Howe, who revealed the centre-half could play in a cast at some stage, replied: “We hope to get him back reasonably quickly.”

The boss also gave an update on frontman Callum Wilson, who tweaked his hamstring against Liverpool last time out.

“I don’t think it’s a serious injury,” said the boss. “He felt a tightness in his hamstring, it’s a very minimal injury looking at the scan.

“We are in a difficult moment with the injury list. There is no denying that.

“We will be picking our fullest, strongest team that we have available.”