#postmatchinterview

Having lost 4-0 at home to West Ham United last Sunday, Cherries went to Southampton on Thursday night, coming away 1-0 victors. Cherries’ head coach then held a press conference a few hours later, on Friday morning, to preview the visit of Leeds United. Following a comfortable 4-1 victory over the Whites, O’Neil revealed he had also spent Saturday night in hospital, with his six-year-old daughter Mila Bleu. Asked how he would be celebrating the win over Leeds, which he feels secures Cherries’ place in the Premier League next season on 39 points from 34 matches, O’Neil said: “I was in A&E last night with my youngest daughter. “She had an accident, nothing too serious. So I’ll get home, see how she is. “I’ll probably just spend the evening in the lounge. Maybe a beer, maybe a tea and some chocolate. There’s some Easter eggs left. I’m just going to enjoy it with them. “I just want to spend some time with the people that have supported me. “They’ve seen some dark evenings in the O’Neil house! Let’s enjoy this one with them.” Asked how he feels himself about the job he has done as boss at Cherries, O’Neil said: “The main thing is relief first. “Even when you’re on 36 points and Leeds are coming and Leicester and Everton play each other tomorrow, you still think because of our goal difference, we don’t want to go to Everton three points in front on the last day. It could still have easily gone the other way. “So today is relief that we put in a big performance and we achieve what I think will be Premier League safety. “I’m just going to enjoy this evening with the family. There’s been a lot of late ones this week – a few 11 o’clockers in there. I haven’t seen much of them. “So looking forward to this evening, celebrating with them and looking forward to getting onto Chelsea.”

Cherries moved up to that mark with a 1-0 win at Southampton on Thursday night, a fifth win in eight matches, which has seen them leap from bottom of the Premier League up to 14th. With five games to go, Cherries are seven points clear of the relegation zone. But boss O’Neil is not convinced the job is yet done, urging his side to be ready to “turn up right from the start” when they host relegation-threatened Leeds United on Sunday (2pm). Put to him that finishing higher up the table would earn the club more prize money at the end of the year, O’Neil said: “At this moment, it’s not about each place, it’s still about avoiding the bottom three for me. “I still believe 36 points could be relegated. “I think maybe the world felt when we left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (after winning 3-2 on April 15) that we were fine. “And then you get a performance against West Ham (4-0 loss) where we let ourselves down. “I think that’s a real good lesson for the boys around achieving a good result that everyone thinks means that you’re okay and you’re good and everything’s rosy and then you get a real kick up the backside a few days later. “We learnt that lesson last week and hopefully that prepares us for what will be a tough ask against Leeds, to go off the back of such a huge effort on Thursday night, two days’ less recovery (than Leeds) against a very intense team will be a big test for the boys come Sunday.” He added: “I felt everyone in the world felt more comfortable after Tottenham and you see what can happen, you lose a game 4-0 to West Ham. “Nottingham Forest beat Brighton and all of a sudden it’s lose at Southampton and we’re right back in it. Things can change very quickly. We’ve been on a good run, so other teams definitely can as well. “I still think 36 points can be relegated, so a real clear focus from me. Thursday night is done. “We enjoyed the fact that we managed to execute a gameplan against a team that could’ve been dangerous on the evening, fantastic that the fans got to enjoy another away victory, but nothing done yet. We need three points on Sunday.” Discussing the challenge posed by Leeds, O’Neil added: “For us, it’s just making sure we start the game well, because we have conceded some early goals recently. “And we were out of our last home game before it started. So making sure that we’re ready. “There needs to be a lot of work done in a short space of time to make sure that we turn up right from the start of Leeds. “We don’t have time to ease ourselves into this one. They play in an intense way. “They’ll have seen the start against West Ham I’m sure and they’ll be keen to come and impose themselves in front of our crowd, to try and make it an awkward afternoon for us. “Real focus from me on trying to get the boys ready to start off all guns blazing at two o’clock on Sunday.” Asked if his team selection will be influenced by having got some vital points on the board on Thursday, O’Neil said: “I don’t think so. I don’t feel any more comfortable at all. “I still feel like at this moment in time we could be relegated, so let’s approach the game exactly in that way, try and get the best team out there for energy, also for quality. “There will be no rotation that wouldn’t have taken place in any other scenario. It will be business as usual from team selection wise.”

Cherries took the lead early on through the first-half from a deflected Marcus Tavernier strike, the effort enough to separate the two sides at the final whistle 1-0. Che Adams thought he had rescued a precious point for the division’s bottom outfit late on, only for the equaliser to be chalked off by VAR for offside. Whilst overall he was pleased with his side’s performance, O’Neil did reiterate that his side need to be more clinical to finish contests off sooner. He began: “Big win for us. Performance was pleasing as well. “Sort of had everything we asked, apart from being clinical enough to put the game to bed. “Because I thought we were by far the better side today. “We spoke a lot this afternoon about showing a calmness in what would be probably a frantic football match, where obviously the other side are in a tough situation and there may be some desperation attached. “So, firstly, can we show a calmness in what is a big pressure situation? And then beneath that, can we show a real grit and steel, and a refusal to leave here without what we came for? “And I thought the performance showed both. “Credit to the players, I thought they were excellent.” Cherries recorded 16 shots and enjoyed consistent spells with the ball, but were unable to truly test Alex McCarthy beyond Tavernier’s winner. “Away from home, I thought it was impressive with the ball,” continued O’Neil. “I thought we played through our shape, lovely. “The things that we thought would be on were on. “It's been a bit of a story recently where we haven't quite been clinical enough, so I think back to Brighton at home where we missed some big chances. “So, yeah, it was a good performance, but the good news is that there is still room for improvement. Definitely.”