EDDIE Howe said Cherries hoped to get Philip Billing back in action “very soon” after the midfielder continued to recover from an ankle injury.

The manager confirmed Danish star Billing sustained the problem at the start of the club’s return to training.

He missed Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace, with goals from Luka Milivojevic and Jordan Ayew keeping Cherries in the bottom three.

But Howe insisted powerful midfielder Billing was not far away from a return.

He said: “Phil got an ankle injury right at the start of our training.

“He was very close to being involved. He just missed out. We just felt he probably wasn’t ready – hadn’t done enough work.

“We are very hopeful we can get him back very soon.”

Billing has played 29 times for Cherries in all competitions since signing from Huddersfield for £15million last July.

He scored twice against Luton in the FA Cup back in January before netting in a 2-1 Premier League win over Aston Villa the following month.

Cherries make the trip to Wolves in the top flight on Wednesday (6pm).