Friday 29 September 2017 11:46, UK
Eddie Howe says Bournemouth need to start picking up points but stressed there would be no "panic" over their lowly Premier League position.
The Cherries suffered a 2-1 defeat last weekend against Everton, which was their fifth loss of the season and leaves them second from bottom.
After Josh King had given Bournemouth the lead, they saw a potential victory taken away from them as substitute Oumar Niasse scored his first two league goals for Everton.
"It is early stages in the season but we don't want to do leave ourselves with a mountain to climb," Howe said ahead of Saturday's clash against Leicester.
"We are where we deserve to be. We haven't been far away. We almost held out against Manchester City which would have been a real moment for us and we probably should have beaten Everton.
"We have a good squad and I have no doubt in the ability of the players, but the strength of the league is very strong this year and it is up to us to improve.
"It is going to be challenging season and we have to make sure that in this situation, we don't do anything drastic or panic."
Bournemouth host Leicester as they look to build on back-to-back home wins over Brighton, but Howe knows how important this game will be against the Foxes with the visitors only one point ahead of them.
"It is a huge game as any Premier League game is," he added.
"When you look at the momentum we took from the two Brighton games, it was clear to see in the Everton game. The performance was really good, but we couldn't get the result.
"We want to win. Every point in this league is so precious and we want that winning feeling again. Being hard to beat is a good achievement and we want to get back to that."
Howe confirmed that Bournemouth would be without Tyrone Mings and Harry Arter while Dan Gosling's fitness will be assessed late on.
But, there was some good news for Howe as Callum Wilson returned to training this week. The striker is recovering from his second serious knee injury in two seasons, but the Bournemouth manager admits the 25-year-old will need time to regain match fitness.
Howe added: "Tyrone Mings is still out and Harry Arter will also miss the game. It is not a serious problem [for Arter], but he hasn't trained and Dan Gosling took a nasty knock at the end of the Everton game so it will be a late call on him.
"Wilson is making good progress and is back in training with us, but has some way to go. He's a really good person to have back in the group and he's training well. It is difficult to put a time frame on the injury."
