Harrison Ashby absence explained and Howe reveals rarely-used Mag is training "really well"

Eddie Howe has explained why January signing Harrison Ashby has missed out over the past month, confirming that the defender has picked up a hamstring problem.

The boss insists it's a 'very small' issue, but it's been enough to keep the 21-year-old out of training sessions 'for a weeks.'

This explains why he's not been in our matchday squad of late, but one player who has returned to the fold of late is captain Jamaal Lascelles; who made his first Premier League start since August at Man City.

The skipper did well against Erling Haaland and was arguably our best performer on the day, with Howe praising his displays in training in today's press conference, revealing the 29-year-old has been playing to a "really high level" behind the scenes.

Here's what Howe had to say on Ashby and Lascelles when speaking to the media this morning...

Howe on Harrison Ashby's absence:

"Harrison's picked up very small hamstring problem.

"So he hasn't trained with the group for a few weeks."

Howe on Jamaal Lascelles' performances in training after a rare start at Man City last week:

"[He is] Very important. Jamaal has trained really well at a really high level. You don't come into that type of game and play well unless you're absolutely focused on your training day to day. He's led by example on training ground.

"I had no doubt he'd come in and do well, because of what I've seen. And he performed to a really high level.