CHERRIES boss Gary O'Neil confirmed Lewis Cook's injury is not as bad as first feared, with the midfielder set for a return in "a few weeks."

Cook looked in some discomfort when he collided with an opponent during Cherries' 2-0 defeat at Brentford last weekend.

The one-time England international quickly gestured to the bench that he feared a reoccurrence of the same ACL rupture he has suffered twice before.

However, it appears that Cook has only suffered a minor injury, alleviating fears of another long lay-off for the former Leeds United man.
O'Neil shared: "Lewis Cook will be a few weeks. Sort of good and bad news around that.

"Obviously Lew has suffered a couple of serious ones in the past. The good news is that it isn't that serious.

"The bad news for us and Lew is that he is going to have to miss a couple of weeks."

Whilst stating that Cherries were not overly worried about the clash that led to the injury, O'Neil admitted Cook's history with ACL ruptures led to an in-depth check.

"In the moment, because we were close to it, we were confident that it wasn't a serious one," explained O'Neil.

"But with what Lew has been through before, you need to get everything checked. 

"Thankfully it's not as serious as his other injuries.

"We're pleased that Lew is going to be back with us soon. Obviously, disappointed that we don't have him available this weekend, and disappointed we didn't have him for the last hour at Brentford."

O'Neil then issued an update on the other absentees from Saturday's fixtures, with Dominic Solanke and Marcus Tavernier still injured.

There was better news in regard to David Brooks, with O'Neil stating that he was getting closer to returning, whilst also tempering expectations.

He explained: "Dom is still missing. Tavs is still missing.
"Brooksy is going really well, can't wait to see Brooksy progress even further and progress on to the pitch with us, but he is not quite ready.

"Apart from that, we are as we were."