Bournemouth midfielder Harry Arter has insisted that his side cannot afford to be despondent after defeats in the Premier League as they battle to remain in the division.

The Cherries have found life difficult since their promotion to the top flight as they have been hit with several injuries and have won just two of their opening 11 matches.

However, Arter – who returned from injury in their loss to Southampton last week – believes that the team have to stick together to end their run of four straight defeats.

He told reporters: "As much as it hurts, there is a kind of realisation that we knew we were not going to win as many games this year, so we half-expected this feeling. Now we need to use last season as a motivation, to know how good it feels to win.

"We need to make sure we are all united and not get on anyone's back if it has not been a good week. We just have to stick together and to our principles.

"We have to trust each other and ourselves, because it is no good going into games thinking you are not good enough and cannot get a result. We need to rebuild that self-belief again, and build it quick."

Bournemouth face Newcastle United at Dean Court on Saturday.