Lewis Cook AFC Bournemouth
One-time England international Cook had missed five games following an ACL sprain suffered away at Brentford in January. The 26-year-old had previously sustained ACL ruptures, most recently missing eight months out between March and October 2021. Those two injuries put in perspective the most recent setback according to the former Leeds United man.
Lewis Cook said: “I think when I when I look back on six weeks out, I knew straight away when I did the injury, I don’t think there’s anything to compare to what I previously had. Six weeks is nothing, really. It was just obviously the ligament was, not an awkward one, but I kind of catch it now and again, leading up to coming back to full fitness, so it’s a bit of a different rehab. But they (the physio team) were great. We worked really hard and, yeah, I felt like it might have been a bit longer than it was going to be, but we worked really hard to try and get back as quickly as we can.”
There was concern when the Yorkshireman went down clutching the rear of his knee at the Gtech Community Stadium, with Cherries fans unsurprisingly fearing the worst considering Cook’s previous ACL tears. However, the player himself had nothing to fear,
Lewis Cook explained: “I knew straight away what I’d done. And I knew it was nothing to do with a previous injury. I think that mechanism of how I got injured, is quite common in football and it happens to a lot of players in their career, so I knew what it was and how we were going to deal with it. And like I said, we worked hard to get back.”
Cook made his return to the matchday squad for the trip to the Emirates two weeks ago, coming off the bench to play the final 20 minutes of a heart-breaking defeat to league leaders Arsenal. He then made another cameo appearance against Liverpool, helping see out the final nine minutes of a famous win over the Reds for Cherries. Asked if he had any doubts about being thrown into the deep end after injury,
Lewis Cook responded: “No apprehension, no. I feel like you do your rehab, your running, your technical work to build you up to play in these games. I feel like I was ready. The lads have been working their socks off to try and get these points on the board, so I just wanted to try and be available to help.”
Cook and co. return to action this weekend, when they travel to Aston Villa in the final game prior to the international break.
