Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has confirmed Nathan Ake will be out for six weeks with a hamstring injury.

The Dutchman limped off in last week's defeat by Liverpool and Howe immediately said after the game that the injury was a huge concern.

His worst fears have now been confirmed with Howe revealing on Friday that he will be without Ake for the busy festive period, although the injury is not as bad as first feared.

The Cherries boss said: "It was relatively good news on Nathan's scan.

"The trouble with hamstring injuries, it's very difficult to give definitive timelines, it will depend on how he feels but I think we're looking at about six weeks.

"That's conservative. Nathan could come back sooner than that, but I think six weeks is probably a fair timeline.

"He presented like it was going to be a really bad one. The scan showed it was a grade two - without going too technical - but then we've had further opinions and we think we can get him back pretty quickly.

"But with these injuries you do have to be careful, you never quite know with a hamstring whether if it's fully healed or not, so we're looking at six weeks."