Bournemouth suffer Dominic Solanke, Enes Unal injury blows

The Cherries experienced a disappointing outing on Tuesday as they fell to a 1-0 extra-time defeat in their FA Cup fifth-round clash with Leicester City.

Abdul Fatawu's unstoppable strike proved enough to end Bournemouth's hopes of reaching their first FA Cup quarter-final since 2020-21.

Bournemouth's frustrating evening was compounded by concerns over the fitness of their top scorer Solanke and their winter signing Unal.

Solanke dropped out of the squad for the FA Cup tie, while Unal was forced off at half time after making his first start since arriving on loan from Getafe.

Iraola confirmed after the game that Solanke was not rested and had been left out of the matchday squad due to a knee issue.

"He wasn't feeling well," Iraola told reporters. "He had some issues in the knee. It doesn't look very big, but he wasn't ready to be involved.

"Obviously it is never a good moment to lose your top scorer. I hope it is not something big and he can help us in the next games.

"We did an MRI just today (Tuesday), so we have to see what he has, assess him, how he wakes up tomorrow. From there, we will see. Today is when we decided not to risk him, because he wasn't feeling well. You never want to lose your top scorer."

Solanke has been a key figure in the Bournemouth side this season, having scored 14 goals in 25 Premier League appearances.

Iraola is also concerned over the fitness of Unal, who was replaced by Antoine Semenyo at the interval after sustaining an injury in the first half at the Vitality Stadium.

"I think he has gone to the hospital also," Iraola said. "He finished with something in the clavicle. We have to check if it is something worse or just a knock.

"He finished the first half, but he was already complaining in the last minutes. I think he was looking very dangerous. He was finishing some things.

"He was fighting well with the centre-backs. But it's a shame he couldn't continue. I hope he doesn't have a really bad injury. But we will see. It is true that to lose your two number nines on the same day is always a bad thing."

Bournemouth will hope to have at least one of Solanke or Unal back in time for Sunday's Premier League away meeting with Burnley.