Bournemouth coach Scott Parker has described Jordan Zemura’s absence as a disruption ahead of the team’s 4-0 loss at Manchester City on Saturday.

Zemura missed the encounter after testing positive for Covid-19.

The Cherries were also without star striker Dominic Solanke who picked a knock on the eve of the match.

Speaking after the loss, Parker admitted: “They (Zemura and Solanke)were late dropouts. They were dropouts yesterday. It was disappointing.

“Dom’s felt his ankle yesterday morning, so didn’t feel he could play today. We didn’t want to risk that. JZ felt ill yesterday. Bit of a disruption, really, that late on, when you’re trying to prepare.”

Asked how much disruption caused by the pair’s absence, Parker added: “It affects it, of course it does.

“When you have late decisions to make, and you’ve done a lot of work in the week to prep for that… but that’s not the reason.

“It wasn’t ideal. Like I said, I thought to a man, my players gave everything they could today. They left everything out there. The difference was in quality. The levels were just too good.”- Soccer24 Zimbabwe