ANDONI Iraola revealed a number of Cherries players had been struggling with illness ahead of Tuesday night’s win over Crystal Palace.

Chris Mepham missed the game against the Eagles, while Antoine Semenyo dropped to the bench.

There was confusion in the build-up, with Semenyo named among the substitutes, before reports suggested the Ghana international would not be involved at all.

In the end, Semenyo was on the bench, coming on at half-time to set up Justin Kluivert’s winner.

Asked to clear up the confusion around Semenyo’s involvement, Iraola explained: “He was not feeling 100 per cent.

“He had kind of a cold, not something big, but he was not feeling perfectly.

“We decided to put him on the bench. That was the situation, nothing else.

“We were discussing, because in the last two days with Meps, Enes (Unal) and Antoine, they had not been feeling well and we have been dealing with this kind of situation, but it was clear that was always part of the squad.”

Discussing Semenyo’s impact, Iraola added: “He probably didn’t play his best game, but it is true that he made the difference with the goal.

“He won a really good duel and provided the assist.

“I think overall the subs have been really important.

“Justin has scored, Milos (Kerkez) gave us really good energy and even Max (Aarons) and Enes helped us to close the game really well.”