Eddie Howe insists Bournemouth must learn from City setback

A 4-0 defeat to Manchester City last Saturday saw the Cherries slip to 17th in the table with just one win out of five games and they were eliminated from the EFL Cup in a 3-2 defeat to Sky Bet Championship side Preston on Tuesday night.

Howe said: "We learnt a lot from the City game. I think it was a tough experience but as always when you play the very best teams you learn a lot from it.

"I remember going back to the Real Madrid game we played in the pre-season friendly (in 2013) and we lost 6-0 but from that game we took so much tactically from them.

"You learn against the top teams and I think you reflect and look back and learn a lot from that game.

"It is a good learning curve in the long term, although it doesn't help in the short term because you get no points.

"There were elements of the game that were okay, that were quite good but ultimately (City) were superior to us."

He added: "Initially for us, there are going to be some disappointing days, that is the reality and I think the key thing is from my perspective and the players' perspective is to brush it off and go again. That's certainly what we did last year.

"You certainly can't dwell on it, you can't let it affect your mood, your daily routines, because there is another game just around the corner.

"We try and prepare well for every game we play and we cannot reflect on the fact we lost 4-0."

Bournemouth face Everton at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday and the Cherries' boss is hoping the determination shown by his side last season in a 3-3 thriller at home is going to spur his side onto victory on Saturday after a poor run of form.

The Cherries were 2-0 down with 10 minutes to go, recovered to 2-2 but went behind again to a 95th-minute Ross Barkley goal. However, the Cherries did not give up and Junior Stanislas made it 3-3 in the eighth minute of injury time.

Reflecting on the game, Howe said: "The home game was a turning point in our season.

"We looked like we were down and out and beaten with about 30 seconds of the game to go and we scored that last-gasp goal to make it 3-3 and I think that revitalised our season.

"We need to find that determination again, if we are going to stay up."