Smith suffers 'serious' knee injury

Adam Smith has suffered a "serious" knee injury, while Bournemouth also lost Jefferson Lerma to injury in the 2-1 defeat at Newcastle.

Left-back Smith had to be replaced after 30 minutes by Charlie Daniels, while midfielder Lerma was substituted at half-time for Dan Gosling.

Smith received treatment for eight minutes on the pitch, having innocuously gone down after feigning a free-kick in his own half.

"(For Smith) it looks like a knee injury. I don't know the extent of that but it looks a serious one," Howe told Sky Sports.

"He is in a bit of pain in the changing room. It disrupted the flow of the game - a long delay - and players concerned for a respected team-mate.

"That didn't help us and we lost Jefferson at half-time - so the couple of injuries rocked us."

Smith's injury came after Salomon Rondon had fired Newcastle ahead, with the striker heading in his second after 40 minutes.

Lerma got one back in the sixth minute of stoppage time before coming off at the break, and Bournemouth were unable to find an equaliser as they succumbed to a second straight defeat in the Premier League.

Howe added: "We're disappointed with the first half in particular - a slow start for us. You know when you come here, that's going to get the crowd in the game.

"It was a difficult opening period for us and we never stamped our authority on the match. We fought till the end and had some chances in the second half but it wasn't to be."