The Cherries are purring at the top

There was a part of me that has seen in recent weeks that this Cherries side has the quality to run away with this league but also has a mental hurdle to cross that the players really believe that they can achieve whatever they want this season. You can look for weaknesses in this side and you'll probably find a few, but you'll also come across superb technique and a desire that is truly unmatched by many of the other Championship clubs. Whether that is enough to give Eddie Howe and his team what they so deserve we will have to wait and see but any AFCB supporter cannot fail to see that this is the best Bournemouth squad that has been assembled and that 2015 is a year that all fans of the Cherries can look forward to.

A few weeks a go we saw the visit if Ipswich and Millwall to Dean Court and felt rather sickened that the Cherries had not managed to secure more points from these games. On the back of the Blackpool game there is a new reinvigorated energy about this squad that tells me that this is going to be a special season. The competition is still close and all around and we all know that one defeat or draw will see others overtake AFCB, but the players started to live with being at the top of the table when they went to Bloomfield Road. Others have been at the top but have failed to stay there. Yet, all the time that unbeaten league record keeps on being extended by the Cherries. There is not a week that goes by when they are not putting pressure now on other teams who might just see AFCB as the team that are the most prolific and powerful in the Championship.

AFCB players will aim extend their time at the top of the table on Boxing Day.

This is something that Leicester City managed to do last season and having that aura of being at the top and taking that to other grounds is a new feeling for our players. Eddie Howe has also not been in this position in this league before, but the smiles are what pleases me because I can see that they are enjoying the challenge now instead of being burdened by it. The pleasure of playing well is now evident in all the players and it should hold the team in good stead with the tough tests that it will have to take on in the new Year. 

Fulham will be one of those teams that will ask serious questions of this Cherries team, but I am confident that the AFCB players will want to win this game more than most because it will be the message that they want to lay down on the rest of the division. Beating Blackpool and Birmingham well away gets attention, and thumping Cardiff at home also sent out warning signals. What message does a good win against Fulham at home send out? That AFCB are worthy leaders of the Championship as the second half of the season approaches. 


I was recently interviewed by Andrew Beck of Cottagers Confidential who wanted Cherry Chimes' opinions before the game on Boxing Day. I'm questioned about the Cherries run of form and whether it really is a team that is taking the Championship by storm or whether AFCB have just had a couple of big wins, and perhaps we are just getting carried away - see Cottagers Confidential.