DETERMINED boss Eddie Howe remains adamant that Cherries have what it takes to achieve automatic promotion to the top flight this season.

Defeat to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday saw Cherries stay fourth in the Championship, some 24 hours after every one of their top eight rivals had tasted victory.

The Dean Court side are four points off the two automatic berths and a single point ahead of seventh-placed Brentford.

But despite his team’s recent slip down the standings, Howe remains upbeat. He told the Daily Echo: “There’s such a long way to go and there’s a lot of games left.

“A lot can change in the blink of an eye so we have to remember that and look at the long-term picture.

“We want to get as many points as we can and we will see where that takes us. I believe this team is good enough to finish in the top two, I’ve always held that belief this season. We haven’t set any limits on where we can finish and it’s still all to play for.”

Cherries have taken 11 points from their past nine league fixtures and Howe urged his team to “reignite our challenge” and answer doubters.

He continued: “It’s extremely tight and it’s going to go right to the wire. I think there will be a lot of people that will probably write us off and that’s fine.

“Everyone outside of Bournemouth will probably think that way with our recent run of results but I think we have to avoid panic and use whatever criticism we get as fuel to fire us again and make sure we reignite our challenge. Even in the games we haven’t won, we could have won all of them and that’s a good sign even when you aren’t getting results. I think we’ll be fine.”