Bournemouth Boss Rose Confirms Alex Scott Will Miss Four to Five Weeks With Muscle Injury

Bournemouth head coach Marco Rose has confirmed that midfielder Alex Scott will be out for four to five weeks, a big blow for a side still searching for their first Premier League win.

Scott picked up the injury during the international break, when England played four Nations League games. "I'm not a doctor," Rose said. 

"Injury to a muscle. We'll do a picture in some days, but we'll miss him for four to five weeks. I'm very disappointed and it's a big loss." 

He kept his tone fair about how it happened. "It's disappointing. I don't want to blame anyone. We're very happy he is in the England national team. He did well."

England boss Thomas Tuchel said the news came as a surprise. Scott played 70 minutes in the 7-0 win over Croatia, and Tuchel says nobody on the England side knew of a problem. 

"There was no concern before the match, not from the player, not from the medical department," he said. "For us, it's players' health first always, that will never change. We took absolutely no risk. We are super sad and disappointed that it happened."

He also reached out to his counterpart. "I can understand the disappointment of the club, but I was personally not in touch with the club. I'm in touch with the player and I'm of course sorry for Marco, for my colleague who is missing a scorer."

Scott has been a regular in the starting XI, playing in six of Bournemouth's seven games in all competitions this season. He has one goal and two assists.

His absence comes at a bad time. Bournemouth are one of only three Premier League sides without a win this season. They have drawn three and lost two of their first five league games, the latest a 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool. In each of their other four league games, they led at some point but let it slip and ended up with a draw or a loss.

There has been some good news in Europe, where they won 2-1 away at Real Sociedad in the Europa League.

Rose must now cope without his midfield engine, starting on Saturday when Bournemouth host Chelsea at the Vitality Stadium.