TYRONE Mings is ready to give Cherries boss Eddie Howe a selection poser at centre-half but admits: “I don’t think it’s a level playing field.”

The 25-year-old made his first Premier League appearance in six and a half months when he featured alongside Nathan Ake and Steve Cook in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Manchester City.

Plagued by injury since his £8million arrival from Ipswich Town three and a half years ago, Mings’s outing at Etihad Stadium was only his 13th league appearance for the club.

He insists he does not deserve a start in a two-man central defence at the expense of Ake or Cook – should boss Eddie Howe revert back to that system – but hopes he has made a case for inclusion.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s home clash with Huddersfield Town (7.45pm), Mings told the Daily Echo: “It’s not down to me to decide (on selection) but those guys are two top players for us.

“They have been the rock of our defence for a long period of time so let’s not get away from the competition because at the moment I don’t think it’s a level playing field.

“Those two absolutely deserve to be starting if we play a back four. All I can do, when I play, is give the manager a dilemma and give him something to think about.

“I think I did that against Manchester City. I can’t do anything more than give my best.”

Mings spent more than 12 months on the sidelines after suffering a serious knee injury six minutes into his top-flight debut against Leicester City in August 2015.

And the former Chippenham Town star sustained a stress fracture to his spine in the early stages of last season, resulting in a further eight months out.

Such is the extent of his injury woes that Mings has only been on the winning side in the Premier League three times.

Asked if he had been relieved to get 90 minutes in the league under his belt at Manchester City, Mings said: “Relieved is maybe the wrong word. I feel proud. I would have liked it to have come a bit sooner but this is what you work towards.

“Every professional footballer wants to play so I just hope there will be many more to come.

“I felt fairly comfortable out there and fit and strong. I felt I slotted in well.”

Huddersfield arrive at Vitality Stadium off the back of a 2-1 home defeat to Brighton. But they had enjoyed an upturn in form prior to that, taking seven points from a possible nine.

Cherries, meanwhile, will attempt to arrest a run of four straight league defeats, their worst spell in the top flight since the beginning of last season.

Mings said: “Every game comes with different expectations and plans and the opposition pose different problems.

“We’ve seen them and know what they are about. We will try to put things right because we are not enjoying our run of results.”