Howe not about to panic after Bournemouth's slow start to Premier League season

The Cherries host Leicester on Saturday with just three points and are second bottom of the table following five defeats from their opening six league matches.

After strengthening the squad with the likes of veteran defender Asmir Begovic and defender Nathan Ake from Chelsea - as well as bringing in England forward Jermain Defoe - it is not as if the south-coast club have rested on their laurels of last season's top-10 finish.

Howe is confident the results will come so long as everyone keeps calm and carries on.

"I am not sure it ever gets easier in the Premier League. As everyone knows it is an incredibly difficult and demanding league in many different ways," the Bournemouth boss said.

"We think w e have a good squad and I have no doubt in the ability of the players, but the strength of the league is also very strong this year

"The top teams are very strong and the teams that have come up along with everyone else has improved. S o now it is up to us to improve even more than we have done.

"It is going to be a challenging season and a difficult season, but we expected that and prepared for that.

"But it is early days and I think in this situation it is important we don't do anything drastic or panic, and just keep doing what we are doing."

Howe, though, accepts more points must arrive sooner rather than later to avoid Bournemouth facing a season-long scrap for survival.

"We don't want to leave ourselves with a mountain to climb," Howe said at a press conference.

"We are where we deserve to be, but we haven't been far away (from getting results).

"We almost held out against Manchester City which would have been a real moment for us and we probably should have beaten Everton."

Howe added: " Every point in this league is so precious and we want that winning feeling again. Being hard to beat is a good achievement and we want to get back to that."

Bournemouth forward Callum Wilson returned to training this week following his recovery from another serious knee injury.

Howe, though, will not look to rush Wilson back into first-team contention.

The Bournemouth boss said: "Callum is making good progress and is back in training with us, but has some way to go.

"He is a really good person to have back in the group and is training well, but it is difficult to put a time frame on the injury."