Cherries currently sit second-from-bottom of the Premier League table with 11 matches to play. They are one point from safety, ahead of hosting mid-table Fulham tomorrow (3pm). Cherries’ squad has been bolstered in recent weeks by players returning from injury. O’Neil is set to have 25 senior players to choose from to face the Cottagers, with only Ryan Fredericks and Junior Stanislas unavailable. With the final international break of the season now gone, two action-packed months await Cherries, notably April which features seven matches.
Discussing the challenge ahead,
Gary O’Neil said: “There needs to be a real extreme diligence and focus into how important the next period is. That should drive how you perform, how focused you are, because you know the importance of it. Hopefully we manage to do that as a team and then over the period, with games coming so quickly, how well we reset, as in physically and mentally from each result. Whether it’s a good one that gives you a little high or whether it’s a bad one that gives you a low, how quickly we can move on from that and get ready for the next one, because the next one is always going to be the biggest one, regardless of what has happened before. That will be really important for us.”
Asked how confident he is Cherries will stay up,
Gary O’Neil added: “Extremely confident, really confident. I have a huge belief in the group, as I always have, from the moment I took over as interim. I never lost the belief in the group. They’re an incredible group and they will give absolutely everything. I believe, with what we have in the room now, giving everything will be enough.”
Cherries currently sit on 24 points from their 27 matches, with just four points currently separating the bottom nine clubs. Asked how many points he feels will be required for survival,
Gary O’Neil said: “I haven’t set a points target. It’s impossible to know, because you could go off the current rate that teams are performing at and then you’d need 35 or 36. But teams down the bottom generally start to pick up some wins as it gets closer to the end and things get a little more desperate. It’s impossible to know how many you need. There are 33 still to play for, six of the games are at home for us, a lot against teams in and around us. Games that we need to be really positive in and have a real good go. I’m really confident in the group what we have available in the room now, where they are mentally and physically that we can give this a real good go for the next 11 games and I’m sure if we do that and we do what we know we can, we’ll be absolutely fine.”
