Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe says he will not rush Jack Wilshere into the starting line-up despite the daunting prospect of facing Manchester City on Saturday.
The on-loan Arsenal midfielder came on as a substitute last weekend to help his side to a 1-0 victory over West Brom at the Vitality Stadium, having made two brief appearances against Leicester City and Watford for the Gunners.
A leg fracture kept the 24-year-old sidelined for almost all of last season, and he has not managed a full 90 minutes in the Premier League since September 2014 due to a succession of injury problems.
Howe has been delighted with Wilshere s start to life on the south coast but remains wary of placing too many demands on him too quickly, even with Pep Guardiola s table-topping City next in line for his side.
With the outstanding quality he has, there s no doubt about that, we d like to see him in the team as quickly as possible, he said.
It s a delicate balance between rushing him into the team and the long term. We have to think of that. We want him to play a lot of games for us so we ll put him in when we think it s right.
I ve been really pleased. I thought he had a big impact when he came on at a time in the game when the game was in the balance, really.
We had lost the full control we had had in the first half and I thought he wrestled that back for us. It was a big contributing factor to us winning the game.
City beat Bournemouth 5-1 and 4-0 last season and have enjoyed superb form this term under Guardiola, winning all of their opening seven competitive fixtures and scoring 21 goals in the process.
I think they re an outstanding team, Howe said. Individually, I think they ve got outstanding players and they ve got a manager who, in my opinion, is right at the very top
I think the biggest compliment I can give him is the impact he s had on that team so early you can see when they play he s stamped his authority on that team.
They ve started the season incredibly well. When I watch them play, I enjoy it and it s rare for me to say that when I watch an opponent play. They ve been very impressive.
