Afcon reverts to being held every two years, Premier League news, Carabao Cup and WCL reaction – football live

10.05am GMT

Kroupi not yet ready to start for Bournemouth Marco Rose will hold Bournemouth forward Junior Kroupi back for a little longer despite more minutes in midweek. A foot injury sidelined Kroupi for the first three months of the campaign, but the highly rated French attacker returned in the 3-0 win over Manchester United and was introduced in the 80th minute of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup triumph over Aston Villa.

Ahead of Saturday’s visit of Leeds, Rose told a press conference: “We still need to build up his game time. I’m really happy to have him back, to have his quality, but he knows that he has to be patient in this situation to not get in a difficult situation with another injury.

“We need to get him fit, in a good spot with more and more match time in between good sessions of training.”

The Cherries remain without Alex Scott, but he could return from a thigh injury next week.

9.52am GMT

Brighton hope to have key duo back for round two with City Head coach Fabian Hurzeler said he is confident that Chema Andres and Ferdi Kadioglu will be available as Brighton seek immediate revenge on Manchester City after being knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the Etihad Stadium on penalties in midweek.

Andres and Kadioglu suffered hip injuries at Liverpool last weekend, but both are expected to return at the Etihad after sitting out the cup tie, while Charalampos Kostoulas will also be available after he was rested on Wednesday night.

However, summer signing Pascal Struijk will not be available, he is out with an undisclosed knock.

Hurzeler told media in Manchester on Thursday: “A positive was that (Yankuba) Minteh and Mats Wieffer had their comeback yesterday.

“Ferdi, Chema, also Kostoulas (who) we rested yesterday, we are quite convinced that he will be an option for Saturday. This is the new information we can give.

“Regarding Pascal Struijk, he won’t be an option for the weekend, but we are quite convinced that he will be back afterwards.” Press Association

Updated at 9.56am GMT

9.30am GMT

U-turn on Afcon as tournament reverts to two-year cycle The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) will revert to being held every two years after the continent’s ruling body reversed its decision taken last year to move to a four-year cycle.

The African Football Confederation (Caf) said in a statement that it had: “Unanimously decided that the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) will return to taking place every two years.”

Caf said part of the reasoning for performing a U-turn on the decision was the length of time it would take for Afcon’s replacement competition, the Africa Nations League Pan-African Competition, to become financially viable.