EDDIE Howe admitted the injury hit sustained by Nathan Ake was a “hammer-blow” to Cherries and said: “It doesn’t look good.”

The Dutch defender was forced off with a hamstring problem after just 35 minutes of today’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool.

Ake has played in every top-flight fixture for Cherries since permanently signing in the summer of 2017.

But that run could be set to come to an end with Howe admitting the problem “looked quite serious”.

He said: “The game seemed to hinge on Nathan’s injury. To that point we’d looked relatively solid.

“We were in the game, we were a threat, we had different moments in the match but he got his injury and we conceded seconds later.

“It was a hammer-blow, a double-whammy with the injury and then the goal and we never recovered.”

Ake was pictured on the bench during the second half of the contest, in which Cherries were sunk by goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Mo Salah.

Asked for an update on the former Chelsea man, Howe said: “It looked like a hamstring injury. It looked quite serious.

“He knew straight away I think, so it doesn’t look good.”

Striker Callum Wilson also hobbled off against the Reds, leaving Dominic Solanke as the only recognised Cherries frontman who is currently fit.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure what Callum’s problem was,” said Howe.

“I saw him stop sprinting and was concerned. He said ‘I’ve got to come off’. That’s all I know.”