AFC Bournemouth star sends early warning to Sheffield United

Sheffield United have been told that the Bournemouth side they come up against at Bramall Lane following the international break, is not the one that has struggled for much of this Premier League campaign.

The Cherries endured a shocking start to the campaign after taking the decision to sack Gary O'Neil and replace him with Spaniard Andoni Iraola. Up until Saturday, their only win of the campaign had come against fellow strugglers Burnley, though there had been a few creditable draws against Chelsea, Brentford and West Ham.

However, Iraola's side pulled off one of the shocks of the season at the weekend when they picked up a home win against injury-ravaged Newcastle United at the Vitality Stadium, which pulled Bournemouth slighly away from the bottom three.

As things stand, the Cherries are three points outside of the relegation zone and take on two of those three within their next five matches. First up is Sheffield United, themselves of course picking up a bit of form after registering four points from six in their last two games, and Bournemouth will come to Bramall Lane with a new-found confidence.

It's lining up be to one of the big matches of the weekend, with the stakes so high even at this stage and for one Cherries player, the trip to Sheffield i one they are going to relish.

In-form Dominic Solanke feels two home wins on the trot - Manchester City fired six past them in between - has brought a sense of belief back into the ranks and they will go to South Yorkshire on a high.

“Obviously we haven’t had the best of starts to the season, but I think we’re in a place now to kick on," said Solanke. "We’ve had two back-to-back wins at home in the league now. We’re looking to push forward and hopefully I can keep scoring.”

He added: “I think we’ve always believed. We’ve had quite a tough start to the season, we’ve played some fantastic teams. Some games we’ve been unlucky not to take the three points. But I think we all believe in ourselves, we believe in the team, we believe in the staff here, and I think it’s starting to show.

“Obviously it’s a great game [against Newcastle] but we’re still a bit far from where we want to be in the league. Hopefully we can kick on from now.”