Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe rejects notion of comfort or complacency

Eddie Howe insists he will never allow himself to get "comfortable" in the Premier League after seeing a number of established teams relegated this season.

The 40-year-old led Bournemouth to a 12th-place finish this season as a 2-1 victory at his former club Burnley on the final day capped another good campaign for the south-coast outfit.

With three Premier League seasons to their name, the Cherries continue to punch above their weight in the top flight.

While Howe masterminded survival for a team in the bottom three at Christmas, three teams who had enjoyed longer Premier League runs dropped out of the division.

West Brom, Stoke and Swansea were all in the league when Bournemouth won promotion back in 2015 but will be playing Championship football next season.

"In this league I'm never comfortable, sitting here thinking we've cracked it or we've established (ourselves)," he said.

"First and foremost you have to prove it and you have to earn the right. It is the league that can change so quickly and can really bite you if you get complacent.

"Certainly from my side there's not any complacency over our work over the summer, we need to be really good with what we do.

"We need to re-energise the players when we come back and get ready for a really tough season ahead."

Looking up instead of down, Howe pointed to the achievements of Burnley - who finished seventh under Sean Dyche and will play Europa League football next season - as something to aspire towards.

"They've certainly shown what can be done," he said of a club he managed between 2011-2012.

"I think they've performed at a very, very high level consistently. They started the season really well with the result at Chelsea and they never looked back from that moment really.

"Full credit to them for what they've achieved this season, they deserve all the accolades they get. The reward is the Europa League and (we) wish them well in that.

"For us, we obviously want to maximise our potential, we want to maximise the ability that we have.

"Where that ceiling is, who knows, but we will give everything we can to try to improve year on year."