Before wins away at Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur, Cherries sat in the relegation zone. However, those victories have now moved O’Neil’s men six points clear of the bottom three with seven matches remaining. They host West Ham United on Sunday (2pm). Reflecting on the last-gasp 3-2 victory at Tottenham,
Gary O’Neil said: “It was a big three points for us, of course. They all are, throughout the season. But the closer you get to the end, they feel bigger. And being away from home at a big club was obviously a big win for us, and a big performance as well to go with it. I’m looking forward to getting back home. We’ve obviously had two away games on the trot and it will be a very tough game against a West Ham side that can be stubborn and hard to break down. We need a good atmosphere here on Sunday and will try and make sure the lads are in a good place to go and attack the game and make the Vitality what it can be when it gets bouncing.”
Asked if securing three wins in a row would make him feel confident of avoiding relegation,
Gary O’Neil added: “I’m just trying to win the next game. Whether it’s three on the trot or not, it doesn’t make any difference. We need more points, definitely, 33 is not going to be enough. As we were two weeks ago before we beat Leicester and Tottenham, just desperate to add another three. The focus hasn’t changed, it hasn’t switched. We understand that we’re still in a scrap to make sure that we’re in this division next season. So this week is going to be a big one for us. It starts on Sunday where three points would give us another step towards us achieving what we set out to.”
