Points buffer gained and more to come?

Working out the form guide in the Premier League is becoming very difficult. Two wins in a row was hard enough for Man Utd until they stumbled across Marcus Rashford and now the Cherries are looking to get a back-to-back win to push home their league position.

I was pleased to see that the Cherries not only forced corners and pushed hard against the Saints in the first half but they showed a more dogged and ugly side of their make up in the second half. It is not a side that I have seen an Eddie Howe team resort to. Usually when the team falls back and defends deep it does not hold out, but this time there was a much more stronger mindset about the players who stuck to their task.

Simon Francis is leading the side up the league.

Francis and Cook were massive at the back and were not afraid to put their heads in where they were going to take knocks. Artur Boruc also was determined to get a clean sheet against his former club. The win over Southampton at home is a big turnaround to how the team played at St Mary's and that has to be very pleasing for Eddie Howe to know that the side has developed in that time.

The buffer over the bottom three is now a significant gap. But with hard games to come in the remaining fixtures the Cherries can't count themselves out of it yet. There are winnable games to come but they have to be won. No goals against in the last two game though is the kind of form that will help the team believe they can go to a tough place like St James' Park and come away with something.