Howe tells players to hold their nerve as Cherries seek their first point

Eddie Howe has told Bournemouth to hold their attacking nerve to end their pointless Premier League start. Refusing to accept his players’ attitude has slipped, he said: “It’s about going back to basics, we need to get the fundamentals of our game functioning.

“Historically we’ve always been very, very good with the ball, very confident, and we haven’t quite seen that and that’s the most concerning thing, but I wouldn’t question the attitude of my players – yes the performances but never the attitude.

“You see trends, you see the attitude and how we want to work and want to win. That’s all there. We’ve got to keep our nerve, and I don’t think it’s far away from clicking at all.”

Brighton manager Chris Hughton agreed, warning his team there is “certainly far more to come” from Bournemouth, but he draws on the boost of Saturday’s 3-1 victory over West Brom, their first since winning promotion.

“At a club like Bournemouth that have only recently been in the Premier League, you can have good and bad periods, but they have always come through them,” said Hughton. “They have a lot of quality and I have no doubt it will only be a short time before they start turning those results around.

Hughton hopes last weekend’s victory at the Amex Stadium will lift his squad. “I would like to think it will have an effect, because that is what our game is all about, trying to go on good runs an build confidence from a good performance or good result.”