CHERRIES are set to be boosted by the return to fitness of Lewis Cook for this weekend's trip to face Arsenal.

Gary O'Neil's men take on the Premier League leaders at Emirates Stadium, looking to bounce back from the heavy 4-1 home defeat to Manchester City last time out.

And they will be aided by the return of midfielder Cook, who has not featured since the 2-0 defeat at Brentford in mid-January due to a knee injury.

But O'Neil did also confirm Marcus Tavernier will continue to be ruled out.

"Tav won’t be available again this weekend," said Cherries' boss. 

"We’ve got two more games before the international break, hopefully he’ll play a part in those, but not confirmed obviously.

"It’s a slight hamstring issue that isn’t too serious, but hoping we’re hoping we can get him back as quickly as possible.

"Lloydy (Kelly) is closer, on the grass today. Lewis Cook is back involved, which is good.

"Lew will join the squad, which is a big positive for everybody.

"Illia Zabarnyi is back out running, doing some good work, but won’t be involved this weekend. The rest is fairly similar."

Three more players still sidelined are David Brooks, Matias Vina and Junior Stanislas.

Asked for an update on Brooks, O'Neil said: "He is close. We’ve got a little bit to do, maybe try and get him some time on the pitch in bigger areas and stuff.

"He’s trained well this week, in and around the lads.

"But there’s a few little bits that we need to just tick off, final hurdles to make sure we get over before he’s back involved, but hopefully very, very soon."