Eddie Howe talked about the interesting rivalry the Cherries share with Aitor Karanka's Middlesbrough and emphasised upon keeping their feet on the ground during his press-conference ahead of the game at Riverside on Saturday.
Bournemouth, who are up to the tenth place in the table, impressed many as they suceeded in holding title challenging Tottenham Hotspur to a 0-0 draw at Vitality Stadium last Saturday.
Howe expecting a tight game
During Bournemouth's promotion campaign in the 2015-15 season of the Championship, Karanka's men too were gunning for a Premier League return, but a play-off finals loss to Alex Neil's Norwich City had shattered their dreams of playing top-flight football in the 2015-16 season.
And Howe praised Middlesbrough, saying that the Boro 'don't concede many goals' and also pointed out that their recent 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium against Arsenal will boost their confidence.
"I remember we had many solid battles in the Championship and it was an interesting rivalry," said Howe and the Englishman also remarked as to how 'unfortunate' they were to not seal promotion during the same season as the Cherries. Howe went onto admit that although, Middlesbrough did it 'the hard way', but deserved to play top-flight football once again.
Howe, who has shown an immense amount of respect for the opposition his side comes up against, also told reporters although they are on the right track this season, but they need to 'feet firmly on the ground'.
Surman back fit for the Cherries
Andrew Surman, who was suffering from an illness and missed the game against Spurs last week, is back fit and is in the fray for selection on Saturday. And the hat-trick hero in the 6-1 win over Hull City, Junior Stanislas is set to undergo a late fitness test to determine his availability to feature.