Howe refusing to panic as Bournemouth's struggles continue

Eddie Howe remains confident Bournemouth will soon return to winning ways after they were beaten 2-1 by West Brom in the Premier League on Saturday.

Bournemouth got off to a fine start when Joshua King gave them an early lead at The Hawthorns, but Craig Dawson quickly levelled the scoring before Gareth McAuley netted the winner after a costly error from goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

The Cherries are now on a seven-game winless streak in the Premier League, but Howe claimed he is not panicking just yet.

"One way for us to get out of this run of form is to work smarter, not to change everything that's good about us," Howe told reporters.

"We certainly have to improve, we are giving ourselves too much to [do to] win games.

"I believe in the players, I am not afraid to face it head on, we are in a relegation battle until the point we are safe.

"When you are not winning games there are errors from the team - it is not one person, we need to take collective responsibility.

"If we come back from this, and I am sure we will, then we will be a much better team for it. Destiny is in our own hands and we have got to force it our way."

While Bournemouth are struggling, West Brom have been in fine form and this weekend's victory saw them hit their goal of 40 points with 12 games to go, much to the delight of Tony Pulis.

"It is a great achievement to get 40 points by this time, so we are all pleased," Pulis stated.

"It has been a great season so far, but we do not want to let it go flat.

"Look at Claudio Ranieri and Leicester, as soon as you become complacent, this game has an unbelievable way of kicking you up the backside."