Bournemouth’s Stanislas out to curry Howe’s favour

Junior Stanislas is eager to convince manager Eddie Howe that he is worthy of starting Bournemouth’s final two matches of the season.

The 27-year-old, who has yo-yoed between Howe’s starting line-up and bench in recent weeks, opened the scoring in the Cherries’ 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday – a result that guaranteed Premier League survival for Stanislas and co.

Bournemouth take on Burnley and Leicester City before bringing the curtain down on their 2016-17 campaign and winger Stanislas hopes that he can do enough to feature in both of those matches from the off.

“All you can do is put in the performances that let the manager know that you’re ready to play,” said the Cherries man.

(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

“I feel I’ve been training well in recent weeks. The boys have been playing really well and picking up performances, so nine times out of ten, the manager’s going to keep the same side.

“That’s fine – we just have to keep our heads down and get back into the starting 11.”

Stanislas’ chances of starting Bournemouth’s final two matches may have looked doubtful after he hobbled off in the 72nd minute against the Baggies but former West Ham United youngster insists that his early exit is nothing to worry about.

He said: “I’m fine. It’s just cramp.

“I’ve had a few injuries in recent weeks and not played as much football, so I think it’s one of those ones where I ran quite hard in the first half and it caught up with me towards the end of the game.

“I’ll work hard this week and hopefully it won’t happen again next week.”